"A woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle"

[Garson O'Toole]

Many thanks to Jon and Charlie for the great citations to song lyrics.
These songs use some phrases that appear in the 1859 cite: a fish
without a tail, a ship without a sail. However the term bachelor is
used in 1859 instead of "a man without a woman".

The phrase "one thing worse in this universe" appears again in the
much later 1967 Girls' State song.

Regarding the evolutionary relationship between the fish and the
human, it may be more complex than suspected as revealed in the
graphics displayed at the sites linked below:

http://john-s-allen.com/humor/evolution.htm
http://john-s-allen.com/humor/evolcopy.htm

Perhaps a fish does not need a bicycle, but a speedy bicycle does need
a fish (or the body of a fish).
Garson

On Fri, Sep 3, 2010 at 11:28 AM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: "A woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle"
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> At 11:11 AM -0400 9/3/10, Jesse Sheidlower wrote:
>>When they can ride bicycles.
>>
>>Jesse
>
> Hey, give 'em a brake!
>
> Actually, this discussion is unaccountably making me thirsty...
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTT2-TNuegM&feature=related
>
> LH

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