Concept of Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

[Laurence Horn]

On Aug 15, 2011, at 3:34 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:

> Naturally I can't prove this, but ISTR that when I was collecting WW1 slang
> I found an assertion (post facto, certainly) that the phrase was in use in
> the army in 1918.
> 
> The most popular image of the French at the time was as indefatigable
> defenders of liberty and their homeland. (I said "at the time.")
> 
> The third - not widely acknowledged in print - was that the French rarely
> bathed.
> 
> The second - even less widely acknowledged in print - was that the French
> were addicted to certain XXX-rated sexual activities that went far beyond
> "French kissing," if you get my drift.
> 
> So *if* the phrase did exist before the song, I suggest that it was as a
> wink-wink nudge-nudge allusion to Mademoiselle from Armentieres and her
> many, many acquaintances.
> 
> The alleged lyrics:
> http://lyricsplayground.com/alpha/songs/f/fiftymillionfrenchmencantbewrong.shtml
> 
> seem consistent with this view, regardless of when the phrase originated.
> 
> JL

And can we assume (an assumption not entirely gainsaid by the OED entry) that "teddy" for 'a woman's undergarment combining chemise and panties' derives from stanza 5 of the above ditty?

LH



> 
> On Mon, Aug 15, 2011 at 3:16 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
>> Subject:      Re: Concept of Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
>> 
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> 
>> On Mon, Aug 15, 2011 at 2:59 PM, Ben Zimmer
>> <bgzimmer at babel.ling.upenn.edu> wrote:
>>> Interestingly enough, when Willie Raskin, Billy Rose, and Fred Fisher
>> wrote the
>>> song "Fifty Million Frenchmen Can't Be Wrong" in 1927, the actual
>> population of
>>> France was pretty close to 40 million -- it wouldn't hit 50 million until
>> 1968,
>>> says Wikipedia.
>>> 
>> 
>> But, wasn't it just a saying, without any pretense that it reflected
>> any kind of reality?
>> 
>> BTW, thanks for the info WRT the song. I had no idea that there was a
>> song with that title. Perhaps reading its lyrics will give me a clue
>> to the point of the expression!
>> 
>> --
>> -Wilson
>> -----
>> All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint
>> to come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
>> -Mark Twain
>> 
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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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