"Truth is the first casualty."

[Jonathan Lighter]

I should have guessed that Barry would beat me to it.

Thanks for the foreshadowings, Garson.

JL

On Thu, Mar 17, 2011 at 9:09 PM, 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:      Re: "Truth is the first casualty."
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Jonathan, The 1915 citation for "truth is the first casualty in war"
> is an excellent find. It is sometimes difficult trying to keep track
> of all the different repositories one can search when exploring a
> quotation. Barry Popik investigated this saying in January and has
> already posted this important 1915 citation. I know this because I was
> just about to post on this topic in early January, and then I checked
> Barry's website again.
>
>
> http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/the_first_casualty_of_war_is_truth/
>
> Here are two cites before 1915. These were the most entertaining early
> partial matches on the theme that I found:
>
> Title: Memoirs of an American lady: With sketches of manners and
> scenery in America, as they existed previous to the revolution
> Author: Anne MacVicar Grant
> Edition: reprint
> Publisher: G. Dearborn, 1836
>
> Truth is the first victim to fear and policy; when matters arrive at
> that crisis, every one finds a separate interest ; mutual confidence,
> which cannot outlive sincerity, dies next, and all the kindred virtues
> drop in succession.
>
> http://books.google.com/books?id=lxAeAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Truth+is%22#v=snippet&
>
>
> Title: The Christian work and the evangelist, Volume 76
> Published: 1904
> Date: April 2, 1904
>
> The way the news from the seat of war is stated one day, reiterated
> the next day and "authoritatively contradicted" the day following
> forcibly illustrates the fact that truth often takes slow trains in
> war times and arrives at the station much behind time.
>
> http://books.google.com/books?id=u4NPAAAAYAAJ&q=%22war+times%22#v=snippet&
>
>
>
> On Thu, Mar 17, 2011 at 7:12 PM, 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:      "Truth is the first casualty."
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > YBQ has this from 1927. A check of the Archives reveals no discussion
> here:
> >
> > 1915 Mrs. Philip Snowden (Liverpool, England), in  National Education
> > Association of the United States  _Journal of the Proceedings and
> Addresses
> > of the Fifty-Third Annual Meeting and International Congress on
> > Education_LIII 55 [GB complete volume image]: Someone has finely said
> that
> > "truth is the first casualty in war"; and never was a greater untruth
> spoken
> > than that war is waged for the protection of women and homes.
> >
> > JL
> >
> > --
> > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
> truth."
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



--
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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