"love it or leave it"

[Charles C Doyle]

Love it or leave it.  1901  D. A. Knuppenburg, "Qualifications Essential to Be the Successful Farmer,"  _Seventh Annual Report of the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture_, Part 1, 660:  "To be successful, I say, he must first, love his occupation . . . . So, on this point, I would say, love it, or leave it."  1905-1906  Elizabeth B. Andrews, "Farming as an Art," _Farmer’s Institutes_ (Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture Bulletin no. 161) 10:  "An old farmer put into five short words such advice as this:  'Love it or leave it.'  Perhaps you say this is a text for a forcible sermon for people in all professions and callings."  More recently, the proverb usually occurs as a jingoistic slogan.  1921  _Chicago Daily Tribune_ 2 Aug.:  "William Valle, congressman from the First Colorado district, a member of the house immigration committee, said his message to aliens in this country was:  "Love it or leave it.'"

--Charlie

________________________________________
From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] on behalf of Laurence Horn [laurence.horn at YALE.EDU]
Sent: Friday, August 19, 2011 9:14 PM

On Aug 19, 2011, at 4:21 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:

> I see that Russell Baker reported the existence of an "America! Love It or
> Leave It!" bumper sticker in NYT on Oct. 1, 1968. He thought it a novelty.
>
> That's after the riot and (heh-heh) almost 1969.
>
Well, yes, but if it was showing up in greater New York in October, think how much earlier it was showing up in the real America!!

LH

>
> On Fri, Aug 19, 2011 at 3:31 PM, Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at GMAIL.COM>
>> Subject:      Re: "love it or leave it"
>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> I believe the American Legion had been a major force in popularizing
>> the phrase in 1941, and continued to promote its use in the decades to
>> follow, including in the early to mid-60s in support of troops in
>> Vietnam.
>>
>> DanG
>>
>>
>>
>> On Fri, Aug 19, 2011 at 3:13 PM, 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: "love it or leave it"
>>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>
>>> On Aug 19, 2011, at 2:58 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>>>
>>>> You're right about the short form, Wilson.
>>>>
>>>> I'm only showing that the phrase existed long before VN, FWIW, IYKWIM.
>> YBQ
>>>> (that's four in a row) recommends a look at earlier but far less similar
>>>> words from Dorothy Parker & Gus Kahn.
>>>>
>>>> Also FWIW, my recollection is that "America: Love it or Leave it" came
>> on
>>>> the national scene only as late as 1969.  It was the same year that
>>>> conservatives hijacked the American flag for their exclusive
>> bumper-sticker
>>>> use.
>>>
>>> I'd have guessed 1968, at least by the time of the Chicago Democratic
>> Convention in August and the backlash against opponents of the war that
>> crystallized with the widely supported "police riot" against protestors
>> there.
>>>
>>> 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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