Request about famous rejoinder: I shall be sober to-morrow, whereas you will remain the fool you are to-day. (1882) (Later examples by W. C. Fields and Winston Churchill) (UNCLASSIFIED)

Mon Aug 8 15:27:03 UTC 2011

Paul Johnson
Back in the sixties when I was tending bar in a local meat market, a
pretty young thing made some sort of stupid comment along the lines of.
"I think the Cubs will win the pennant by two polos"
     A  drunken customer awoken from his stupor by the inaneness of her
comment; looked us, moved his head in and out to get her in focus and
said, :You ain't that  fucking pretty to be that fucking stupid"
     Interestingly the girl was more upset with having her looks
critiqued than her brains.  I bought the drunk another dring

On 8/8/2011 9:58 AM, Mullins, Bill AMRDEC wrote:
> Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
> Caveats: NONE
>
> In the 1970s, when (to my teenage mind) National Lampoon was really
> funny, they had a short piece along the lines of:
>
>
> THE QUOTABLE WINSTON CHURCHILL
>
>
> Bessie Braddock:  Mr. Churchill.  You, sir, are drunk.
> Winston Churchill:  Fuck off, you cunt.
>
>
>
> Lady Astor:  Mr. Churchill, if you were my husband, I'd poison your tea.
> Winston Churchill:  Blow me, bitch.
>
>
>
> George Bernard Shaw:  Here are two tickets for my new play.  Bring a
> friend, if you have one.
> Winston Churchill:  Suck my dick, Bernie.
>
>
>
>
> Etc., etc., etc.
>
>
>
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On
>> Behalf Of Garson O'Toole
>> Sent: Sunday, August 07, 2011 5:13 PM
>> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>> Subject: Request about famous rejoinder: I shall be sober to-morrow,
>> whereas you will remain the fool you are to-day. (1882) (Later
> examples
>> by W. C. Fields and Winston Churchill)
>>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> ---------------
>> --------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society<ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       Garson O'Toole<adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
>> Subject:      Request about famous rejoinder: I shall be sober to-
>> morrow,
>>                whereas you will remain the fool you are to-day. (1882)
>> (Later
>>                examples by W. C. Fields and Winston Churchill)
>>
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
>> --------
>>
>> There are two famous rejoinders to accusations of inebriation. One is
>> attributed to W. C. Fields and the other to Winston Churchill. Here is
>> the response of W. C. Fields when told "Your drunk" in the 1934 film
>> "It's a Gift."  Strictly speaking credit goes to the screenwriter and
>> not to Fields for this quip. (The Quote Verifier and Yale Book of
>> Quotations versions differ slightly so I will list both):
>>
>> Yeah, and you're crazy. I'll be sober tomorrow, but you'll be crazy
>> the rest of your life.
>>
>> Yeah, and you're crazy. But I'll be sober tomorrow, and you'll be
>> crazy for the rest of your life.
>>
>> Here is the Churchill anecdote reported in "Churchill by Himself: The
>> Definitive Collection of Quotations" by Richard Langworth. The words
>> are based on the testimony of a bodyguard named Ronald Golding who
>> described an incident that supposedly occurred in 1946:
>>
>> [Bessie Braddock MP: "Winston, you are drunk, and what's more you are
>> disgustingly drunk."]
>> Bessie, my dear, you are ugly, and what's more, you are disgustingly
>> ugly. But tomorrow I shall be sober and you will still be disgustingly
>> ugly.
>>
>> These two anecdotes can be grouped together in a class. The earliest
>> instance I've located of a member of this class is dated 1882.
>>
>> Cite: 1882 August 05, The Daily Republican-Sentinel, His Advantage,
>> Page 5, Column 2, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (19th Century U.S. Newspapers
>> Gale)
>>
>> A Conservative member of the House of Commons, who talks much on
>> foreign affairs, but not wisely, was passing last week through palace
>> yard, when a man ran against him. "Do you know, sir, who I am?" said
>> the member, "I am Mr. --, M.P." "What?" irreverently answered the man,
>> "are you Mr. --, the greatest fool in the House of Commons?" "You are
>> drunk," exclaimed the M.P. "Even if I am," replied the man, "I have
>> the advantage over you - I shall be sober to-morrow, whereas you will
>> remain the fool you are to-day."
>>
>> The question I pose for the list members concerns a periodical called
>> "Truth" in which this anecdote reportedly appeared. Here is the
>> reference data that I have:
>> Truth, vol. xii. p. 112.
>>
>> Does anyone know if "Truth" has been digitized in some database? I
>> found volume 10 in Google Books but I cannot find volume 12. The date
>> is around 1882. Here is a link to what I think is volume 10 of the
>> periodical:
>>
>> http://books.google.com/books?id=EcgcAQAAMAAJ&
>>
>> This reference to "Truth" appears in a footnote to a reprinting of the
>> anecdote that appeared here:
>>
>> Cite: 1883 May, The National Review, On the Literary Advantages of
>> Grub Street by Thomas Tantivy, Page 384, W. H. Allen&  Co., London.
>>
>>
> http://books.google.com/books?id=fNLUAAAAMAAJ&q=%22be+sober%22#v=snippe
>> t&
>>
>>
>> For interested readers here are some additional examplesin this class
>> of anecdotes.
>>
>> Cite: 1890 March 27, The American Stationer, Roundabouts by The Trade
>> Lounger, Page 745, Column 1, Howard Lockwood&  Co., New York.
>>
>> It is said that a lady and a gentleman the other day entered a
>> Broadway surface road car at the same moment, the former by the rear
>> door, the latter by the front. There was only one seat vacant and the
>> gentleman at once took it, but it happened to be next to one occupied
>> by a man who evidently "had a load on." This man at once arose and,
>> offering his seat to the lady, said: "Madam, take my seat; I am drunk
>> to-day, but to-morrow I shall be sober." Then pointing to the one who
>> had just sat down, he added: "But that man is a hog to-day and he'll
>> be a hog to-morrow!"
>>
>>
> http://books.google.com/books?id=JztYAAAAYAAJ&q=%22be+sober%22#v=snippe
>> t&
>>
>>
>> Here is a version of the tale in 1892 that once again features M.P.s.
>>
>> Cite: 1892 December 17, Pick-Me-Up, Page 183, Column 1, Volume 9,
>> Number 220, Published at the Office of Pick-Me-Up, London.
>>
>> Two M.P.'s meet in the Lobby, one an ardent --- the other an equally
>> ardent ---. One has dined "not wisely, but too well," and salutes the
>> other with: "You're a fool, Brown-Jones, a downright fool."
>>
>> He is met with the reply: "Now, now, Robinson, you're drunk." To which
>> the retort is given: "Well, if I am drunk (hic) I shall be sober
>> to-morrow morning (hic), but a fool is a fool (hic) through all his
>> life."
>>
>>
> http://books.google.com/books?id=bIUXAQAAMAAJ&q=%22be+sober%22#v=snippe
>> t&
>>
>>
>> In 1900 a multi-volume diary was published by Augustus John Cuthbert
>> Hare and in volume 5 he told a story that fits this pattern. If the
>> 1882 date on the diary entry is correct then this is actually the
>> earliest instance of the anecdote I have located:
>>
>> Cite: 1900, The Story of My Life: Volume V by Augustus J. C. Hare,
>> [Diary entry dated July 16, 1882], Page 362, George Allen, London.
>> (Google Books full view)
>>
>> "July 16. -- After luncheon, we had a pleasant walk to Knockholt
>> Beeches -- Lady Northcote, the two Stanhope brothers, Mr. Banks
>> Stanhope, Lady Margaret, and I. Afterwards, sitting on the stone
>> platform in front of the house, Sir Stafford Northcote told us -
>>
>> "'The great A.B. was tremendously jostled the other day in going down
>> to the House. A.B. didn't like it. "Do you know who I am?" he said; "I
>> am a Member of Parliament and I am Mr. A.B." -- "I don't know about
>> that," said one of the roughs, "but I know that you're a damned fool."
>> -- "You're drunk," said A.B.; "you don't know what you're saying." --
>> "Well, perhaps I am rather drunk to-night," said the man, "but I shall
>> be sober to-morrow morning; but you're a damned fool tonight, and
>> you'll be a damned fool to-morrow morning."'
>>
>> There are more examples in 1904, 1911, 1925, 1932, 1936, and 1938, but
>> I have not verified each one of these citations yet.
>>
>> If someone can help with the reference to the Truth periodical I would
>> be very appreciative.
>>
>> Garson
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
> Caveats: NONE
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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                            Thomas Campbell

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