That's all she wrote antedatings

Fri Mar 4 13:53:12 UTC 2011

A documented 1942 currency, in civilian contexts, makes it very unlikely
that the phrase was inspired - as is often said - by the "Dear John letter."

I did not find either expression in print - alone or in combination - before
1945 or so.

JL

On Fri, Mar 4, 2011 at 7:11 AM, Garson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com>wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Garson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: That's all she wrote antedatings
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Michael, Here are some citations with solid 1942 dates from ProQuest
> Historical Newspapers. All three were written by Lucius (Melancholy)
> Jones in the Atlanta Daily World. I searched for "that was all she
> wrote" in addition to "that's all she wrote".
>
> Cite: 1942 June 29, Atlanta Daily World, Sports Slants by Lucius
> (Melancholy) Jones, Page 5, Atlanta, Georgia. (ProQuest)
>
> "Coot" inquires about Jimmie and Juanita Perry—and his other numerous
> friends and opines that the old "Avenue" (Auburn) must still be going
> strong. He asks what of Top Hat and says that, out in Cheyenne, he
> gets a chance to take a gander at. some goodlookers of the Mexican and
> Japanese variety—but implies that "that's all she wrote," because army
> life just about restricts an ambitious young soldier to routine and
> maneuvers.
>
>
> Cite: 1942 August 23, Atlanta Daily World, Sports Slants by Lucius
> (Melancholy) Jones, Page 8, Atlanta, Georgia. (ProQuest)
>
> But, undisturbed, Smokey Joe Williams reared way back and fired in
> that lightning fast ball. Nine straight strikes whistled past the
> three dangerous batsmen—and that was "all she wrote."
>
>
> Cite: 1942 August 23, Atlanta Daily World, Josh Gibson, Sam Bankhead,
> Willie Wells, Leon Day Get Pittsburgh Pirates Tryouts by Lucius Jones,
> Page 8, Atlanta, Georgia. (ProQuest)
>
> Day struck out O'Neill of the Monarchs, Arthur Pennington of the
> Chicago American Giants, and Floyd (Bear Man) Davenport of Birmingham.
> That was "all she wrote" for the West sluggers.
>
>
> The libraries I have access to have American Mercury but not in 1942.
> Date probes yield the following (you may already know this):
>
> Page 130 approx start for 1942 February issue
> Page 258 approx start for 1942 March issue
> Page 386 approx start for 1942 April issue
>
> The matching page for the phrase is 425 according to Google Books so
> there is a chance the match is in the April 1942 issue and that would
> antedate the three citations above.
>
> Garson
>
> On Fri, Mar 4, 2011 at 4:50 AM, Michael Quinion
> <wordseditor at worldwidewords.org> wrote:
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Michael Quinion <wordseditor at WORLDWIDEWORDS.ORG>
> > Organization: World Wide Words
> > Subject:      That's all she wrote antedatings
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > Last week in World Wide Words I discussed "that's all she wrote". A
> > reader, Michael Templeton, has found two citations that appear to
> antedate
> > it to 1942. Might somebody with better research facilities be able to
> > confirm or deny these or provide more information?
> >
> > The first, via Google Books, is this
> >
> >  "That's all she wrote!" gleefully called out a fan, before
> >  crossing the pit to collect a fifty-dollar bet.
> >  [American Mercury, Vol 54, p425, 1942. Snippet view only. In
> >  a story about a cockfight. The year seems to check out from
> >  internal date searches but confirmation and issue date needed.
> >  See http://bit.ly/g77q1a]
> >
> > The other is the title of a song. In a post back in 2004 Ben Zimmer
> quoted
> > one said to be by Jerry Fuller in 1950, an attribution which is widely
> > given online.
> >
> >  Now I woke up this morning a quarter past three
> >  I just couldn't realize this could happen to me
> >  That's all she wrote...
> >
> > As Jerry Fuller was 12 in 1950, his authorship seems improbable. Michael
> > Templeton points out that this is also widely attributed to the Texas
> > Troubadour, Ernest Tubb.
> >
> > A song of this title appeared in Ernest Tubb Favorites: Radio Songbook
> No.
> > 3. (WSM Grand Ole Opry Edition). Ernest Tubb Publications. Nashville,
> > Tenn. 1943. [Southern Folklife Collection catalogue http://bit.ly/eAeukJ
> ]
> >
> > A song of the same title, presumably the same one, appeared in The Ernest
> > Tubb Song Folio of Sensational Successes. No.2, Hollywood, CA: American
> > Music Inc., 1942. An image of the cover is available via Amazon.com
> > (http://amzn.to/giIekA) which has the song title in the middle of the
> > right-hand side of the page. Its presence, and the date, is supported by
> a
> > catalogue reference here: http://bit.ly/cZnmpH
> >
> > --
> > Michael Quinion
> > Editor, World Wide Words
> > Web: http://www.worldwidewords.org
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
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