"Stop digging."

[Jonathan Lighter]

More than a quarter million RGs on "rule of holes."

JL

On Sun, Oct 10, 2010 at 6:56 PM, Sam Clements <SClements at neo.rr.com> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Sam Clements <SClements at NEO.RR.COM>
> Subject:      Re: "Stop digging."
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> For those researchers who wish to read the WSJ source for the comment, it
> was the 16 September 1977 article titled _Washington Wire_ and said
>
> "A senior official concerned about the Lance affair suggests the
> administration nees to learn "the rule of holes":  When you're in a hole,
> you don't keep digging...."
>
>
>
> Sam Clements
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Dan Goncharoff" <thegonch at GMAIL.COM>
> To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Sent: Sunday, October 10, 2010 18:14
> Subject: Re: "Stop digging."
>
>
> 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/
> > >
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