Question about accurate dating: Quote: You have four years to be irresponsible here. Relax. (attrib Tom Petty 2001 May 9 probably)

[Neal Whitman]

A similar sentiment I saw on T-shirts at the University of Texas at Austin sometime between 1988 and 1992 was, "You can always retake a class. You can never retake a party."

Neal

On Jul 10, 2011, at 4:26 AM, "Garson O'Toole" <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Garson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Question about accurate dating: Quote: You have four years to be
>              irresponsible here. Relax. (attrib Tom Petty 2001 May 9 probably)
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> You have four years to be irresponsible here. Relax. Work is for
> people with jobs. You'll never remember class time, but you'll
> remember time you wasted hanging out with your friends. So, stay out
> late. Go out on a Tuesday with your friends when you have a paper due
> Wednesday. Spend money you don't have. Drink 'til sunrise. The work
> never ends, but college does.
>
> This saying is aimed at college students, and it is attributed to the
> popular rock musician Tom Petty. The passage has been circulated
> enthusiastically by students who have been attracted to the sentiments
> expressed.
>
> I have been asked to explore its origin. The obvious approach would be
> to contact Tom Petty directly or indirectly via a representative. If
> someone knows a good strategy for this I would be happy to hear it.
>
> The earliest citation I have found for this saying is in a forum at
> the website slackercentral.com. The term "messageboard" is used for
> the forum. A person using the handle "cd36" has a signature file that
> includes the quotation and credits Tom Petty. A message with the date
> May 9, 2001 uses the signature file.
>
> This date may be wrong. The forum is controlled by the website
> administrator(s) at slackercentral.com and the date can be arbitrarily
> manipulated. In addition, messages can be retroactively altered. This
> raises a question:  Which dates can be trusted on the web?
>
> I checked the Internet Archive: Wayback Machine and found that the
> forum was not effectively spidered. Only a small sample of messages
> was archived, and I could not find the post with the Petty quotation.
>
> The quotation in the signature is unadorned. No details are given
> about provenance of the saying. Also, the time and location are not
> given. The user cd36 used the signature file with the Petty quote for
> several years. Another technique for exploration involves attempting
> to contact cd36. I have not tried this yet.
>
> The first reasonably solid date is October 20, 2003 in The Observer,
> the student newspaper at Notre Dame:
>
> Yeah, college! By Emily Howald
> Published: Monday, October 20, 2003
> Updated: Tuesday, August 11, 2009 13:08
>
> (Begin excerpt)
>
> So please, try not to lose perspective. If your faith is depleting or
> you've whiffed at having fun, look, as I do, to this excellent piece
> of advice. Think of it as the voice of reason, the voice of college.
>
> I've learned one thing and that's to quit worrying about stupid
> things. You have four years to be irresponsible here. Relax; work is
> for people with jobs. You'll never remember class time but you'll
> remember the time you wasted hanging out with your friends. So stay
> out late. Go out on a Tuesday night with your friends when you have a
> paper due on Wednesday. Spend money you don't have. Drink until
> sunrise. The work never ends but college does.
>
> http://www.ndsmcobserver.com/2.2755/yeah-college-1.275229
>
> The author does not explicitly mention Tom Petty.
>
> On December 22, 2003 the saying with a credit to Petty appeared in The
> Defender, a student periodical at St. Michael's College, Vermont.
> (Found via NewsBank)
>
> (Begin excerpt)
>
> "I've learned one thing, and that's to quit worrying about stupid
> things. You have four years to be irresponsible here. Relax. Work is
> for people with jobs . You'll never remember class time, but you'll
> remember time you wasted hanging out with your friends. So stay out
> late, damn it. Go out on a Tuesday with your friends when you have a
> paper due Wednesday. Spend money you don't have. Drink until sunrise.
> The work never ends, but college does."
>
> A wise man once said that. It was Tom Petty, that ancient rocker we
> all know and love. Don't get me wrong. I don't take this, in its
> entirety, too seriously. But the spirit of what he said I take very
> much to heart.
>
> Garson
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org