"Don't rock the boat!"

[Jonathan Lighter]

A good find, Garson.

JL

On Mon, Oct 11, 2010 at 11:45 AM, Garson O'Toole
<adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com>wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Garson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: "Don't rock the boat!"
>
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>
> 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
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> > 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!"
> >
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> >
> > 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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