"Close, but no cigar."

[Jonathan Lighter]

As I said, Charlie, he wouldn't lie.

Good on you for the one-year antedating.

JL

On Thu, Apr 7, 2011 at 10:29 AM, Charles C Doyle <cdoyle at uga.edu> wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Charles C Doyle <cdoyle at UGA.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: "Close, but no cigar."
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> 1934  "Books That Have Rung a Bell," _The Writer_ 46: 286:  擢rom 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稚
> 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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>
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
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