"Close, but no cigar."

[Baker, John]

        I always associated the phrase with the carnival game that Jon
so elegantly describes, but Barry Popik's discussion,
http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/close_but_no_cig
ar/, implies that the phrase applies to carnival games more generally.


John Baker



-----Original Message-----
From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf
Of Jonathan Lighter
Sent: Thursday, April 07, 2011 10:17 AM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: "Close, but no cigar."

HDAS has this, of course, under "cigar," which allows you to look it up
even
if all you hear is "No cigar!"  The earliest ex. is from 1935.

It was explained to me in the early '70s that the ref. is to the
old-time
carnival feat of strength involving bashing a spring-loaded platform
with a
mallet to try to ring a column-mounted bell whose sound would tell the
world
that you had super strength. As if that weren't enough, you'd get a
cigar
too.

And my American lit professor certainly wouldn't lie.

JL

On Thu, Apr 7, 2011 at 9:30 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: "Close, but no cigar."
>
>
------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------
>
> At 2:36 AM -0400 4/7/11, Wilson Gray wrote:
> >I had to ask what that meant, when I first heard it, and it's still
> >slightly mysterious.
> >
>
> I've always assumed there was a game show, perhaps on the radio or
> early TV, in which those who give correct answers or otherwise win
> were awarded with cigars, but I have no idea on the specifics.  Does
> anyone remember (or at least know) whether such a show existed?
> (Google sites suggest the use of cigars as prizes in carnival games,
> in which case it's unclear why the expression never shifted to "Close
> but no stuffed animal".)

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