"Stop digging."

[Dan Goncharoff]

I think it goes back further:

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=GYAsAAAAIBAJ&sjid=FM0EAAAAIBAJ&dq=when-you-re-in-a-hole&pg=2234%2C5162593

The Spartanburg Herald
September 26, 1977

On (sic) wry spinoff of the Bert Lance affair was the comment of ranking but
unnamed Washington official who mentioned to the Wall Street Journal that
the Carter administration needs to learn "the rules of holes." By that he
meant that the often counterproductive efforts of Carter staffers to protect
the embattled budget director ran counter to the rule: "When you're in a
hole, you don't keep digging."

DanG

On Sun, Oct 10, 2010 at 5:28 PM, Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu>wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Shapiro, Fred" <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: "Stop digging."
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> The files of the Yale Book of Modern Proverbs have the following earliest
> version:
>
> 1981  Washington Post 16 Nov.  “At Rochester and in junior hockey (at
> Saskatoon), we had some tough times.  But when you’re in a hole, don’t dig
> it deeper.”
>
> Fred Shapiro
>
>
>
> ________________________________________
> From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of
> Garson O'Toole [adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM]
> Sent: Sunday, October 10, 2010 3:21 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: "Stop digging."
>
> Thanks for pointing to Barry's work, Ben. Here is an instance from the
> Hansard database with an exact date in 1983. The speaker is Healey:
>
> Budget Resolutions and Economic Situation
> HC Deb 21 March 1983 vol 39 cc549-674
>
> Mr. Healey:
> At the moment the Americans have adopted the first law of holes. I
> wish that the Government would adopt that law, too. The first law of
> holes is that when someone is in one he stops digging. The American
> Government have, thank God, stopped digging.
>
>
> http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1983/mar/21/budget-resolutions-and-economic-situation#S6CV0039P0_19830321_HOC_339
>
> On Sun, Oct 10, 2010 at 2:57 PM, Ben Zimmer
> <bgzimmer at babel.ling.upenn.edu> wrote:
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at BABEL.LING.UPENN.EDU>
> > Subject:      Re: "Stop digging."
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > On Sun, Oct 10, 2010 at 12:20 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> >>
> >> From GB snippets:
> >>
> >> 1986 Robert Fritz _The Path of Least Resistance_  (Salem, Mass.: DMA)
> 30:
> >> The President of DMA, Inc., Dr. Kalen Hammann, has said, "if you find
> >> yourself in a hole, stop digging." If you prematurely attempt to make
> the
> >> shift to the orientation of the creative, motivated by the discomfort of
> >> circumstantial stimuli, you are merely digging yourself into a deeper
> hole.
> >>
> >> WorldCat shows a 1984 edition that GB does not.  Innumerable RGs, others
> >> with "when."
> >
> > See Barry Popik's page, with cites back to 1983 (attributed to British
> > politician Denis Healey):
> >
> >
> http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/when_youre_in_a_hole_stop_digging_first_law_of_holes/
> >
> > --bgz
> >
> > --
> > Ben Zimmer
> > http://benzimmer.com/
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org