"a nice girl like you"

[Dan Goncharoff]

Hawthorne comes close in The House of the Seven Gables.

"You are a nice girl,—I see it plainly," continued Hepzibah; "and it is not
any question as to that point which makes me hesitate. But, Phoebe, this
house of mine is but *a, *melancholy place for a young person to be in. It
lets in the wind and rain, and the snow, too, in the garret and upper
chambers, in winter-time; but it never lets in the sunshine! And as for
myself, you see what I am,—a dismal and lonesome old woman (for I begin to
call myself old, Phoebe), whose temper, I am afraid, is none of the best,
and whose spirits are as bad as can be. I cannot make your life pleasant,
Cousin Phoebe, neither can I so much as give you bread to eat."

"You will find me a cheerful little body," answered Phoebe, smiling, and yet
with a kind of gentle dignity; "and I mean to earn my bread. You know I have
not been brought up a Pyncheon. A girl learns many things in a New England
village."
"Ah! Phoebe," said Hepzibah, sighing, " your knowledge would do but little
for you here! And then it is a wretched thought, that you should fling away
your young days in a place like this. Those cheeks would not be so rosy,
after a month or two. Look at my face!"—and, indeed, the contrast was very
striking,—" you see how pale I am! It is my idea that the dust and continual
decay of these old houses are unwholesome for the lungs."

DanG


On Sat, Jun 25, 2011 at 8:41 AM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      "a nice girl like you"
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> YBQ lacks the classic, facetious pick-up line, "What's a nice girl like you
> doing in a place like this?"
>
> But what's even worse is that GB searches don't take it back any earlier
> than the 1990s - despite the fact that I recall it well from high school,
> very probably because Martin Scorsese directed a short feature with that
> title in 1963. (I used the phrase frequently, and it got me nowhere.)
>
> I haven't checked elsewhere.
>
> But WTH's with GB?
>
> JL
>
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

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