"Don't rock the boat!"

[Garson O'Toole]

The Yale Book of Quotations has "Don’t rock the boat" listed as a
Modern Proverb with a citation of: N.Y. Times, 19 Feb. 1909.

Below is an excerpt from an 1891 article with the title "DON'T ROCK
THE BOAT" that appears in an Iowa paper. The phrase is used
metaphorically. (There are earlier instances in which the phrase is
used non-metaphorically as part of boating safety instructions.)

1891 July 17, Iowa Postal Card, Don't Rock the Boat, Page 7, Column 2
and 3, Fayette, Iowa. (NewspaperArchive)

Steer clear of the rock of distrust
Steady, there, we are almost in deep water.
In heaven's name, brothers, don't rock the boat—Topeka Advocate.

Garson

On Mon, Oct 11, 2010 at 10:53 AM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> Subject:      Re: "Don't rock the boat!"
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> What about "Guys and Dolls" (1950)?  ""Sit Down, [sit down,]You're
> Rockin' the Boat".
>
> G&D was based on two Runyon stories, "The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown"
> (1933) and "Blood Pressure" (n.d. -- no Wikipedia article).  Although
> I strongly doubt that "rockin' the boat" is in either story.
>
> Joel
>
> At 10/11/2010 08:51 AM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>>G. Legman traced the "Don't make waves!" joke at least back to the early
>>'30s.  It was discussed here in 2004 (with a demonic hydroplane added in
>>Wilson's 1957 hearing of it).
>>
>>It makes me wonder if "Don't rock the boat!" comes from a version of the
>>same story, though that advice is undoubtedly more practical.  (If you're
>>not in hell, anyway.)
>>
>>JL

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