"Close, but no cigar."

[Charles C Doyle]

1934  "Books That Have Rung a Bell," _The Writer_ 46: 286:  “From the midway of that old American institution the county fair, comes a phrase that has crept into our slang and colored it . . . :  'Close, but no cigar'" (a cigar was a traditional prize awarded to the winner of one of the games of skill that were popular at American fairs).  1935  _Annie Oakley_ (motion picture):  "Close, Colonel, but no cigar!"   RHDP 41, YBQ Sayings(6); Cohen (1989) 100-02, Lighter (1994-) 1:442, Room (2000) 143.  Cf. "CLOSE doesn’t count."

--Charlie

________________________________________
From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] on behalf of Jonathan Lighter [wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM]
Sent: Thursday, April 07, 2011 10:17 AM

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".)
>
> LH
>
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>



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