reach for the sky

[Garson O'Toole]

OED lumps together "reach for the (sky, roof, stars)" [command given
to someone held at gunpoint] and gives the phrase "reach for the roof"
as the earliest term in the novel " Bucky O'Connor: A Tale of the
Unfenced Border" by the ubiquitous William MacLeod Raine. The OED
dates the work to 1910 but the copyright page lists two dates:

Copyright 1907 by Street & Smith
Copyright 1910 by G. W. Dillingham Company

http://books.google.com/books?id=5NsnAQAAIAAJ&q=Smith#v=snippet&q=Smith&f=false

Street & Smith also published science fiction works (years later), and
I know that the text of serialized SF novels sometimes differed
markedly from the final full-length text. Also, two (or more)
copyright notices were sometimes given at the beginning of "fix-up"
novels in the SF domain. The issue of selecting a date can be
side-stepped here because there is another cite:

Cite: 1906 September 4, Aberdeen Daily News, Nervy Gun Artists Work in
Aberdeen, GN Page 8, Aberdeen, South Dakota. (GenealogyBank)

Hold-Up Men Compelled Him to Reach for the Sky while They Rifled His Pockets.

Garson

On Mon, Mar 28, 2011 at 11:56 AM, Jonathan Lighter
<wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: reach for the sky
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Because the original 1910 copyright is to "Street & Smith," a publisher of
> pulp adventure periodicals. Subject to refutation, the presumption is that
> the phrase was written in 1910.
>
> Judging by the 1909 ex. with "stars," Raine decided that "sky" might be of
> wider application.
>
> Re Garson's 1853: the people of Babel got into trouble precisely for trying
> to reach to the sky. It was a very bad thing.
>
> How times change.
>
> JL
>
> On Mon, Mar 28, 2011 at 11:15 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:      Re: reach for the sky
>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>  Jonathan Lighter wrote
>> > Beats me, but OED combines "reach for the sky" with the
>> > synonymous-in-every-sense "reach for the stars," which, despite what the
>> > entry might lead one to think, is not used nearly so often by fictional
>> > Western gun-toters.
>>
>> Bill Mullins asked
>> > Why the 1910 dating if the book was published in 1911?
>>
>> Good question. OED first cite is 1910 for "reach for the (sky, roof,
>> stars)" in the gunslinger sense. Here is a slight improvement based on
>> the "stars" variant.
>>
>> OED (2008) reach, v. 2. g. orig. U.S. To raise the hands above the
>> head, when held at gunpoint.
>>
>> Cite: 1909 October, Lippincott's Monthly Magazine, Melissy by William
>> MacLeod Raine, Page 401, J. B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia.
>> (Google Books full view; Google uses the designation McBride's
>> Magazine but the page images say Lippincott's Monthly Magazine)
>>
>> Alan lowered his hands and did as directed.
>> "Now reach for the stars again."
>> McKinstra's arms went skyward. Without his weapon, he was helpless to
>> do otherwise.
>>
>> http://books.google.com/books?id=xM_UAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Now+reach%22#v=snippet&
>>
>>
>> On the topic of "reach for the sky" with an inspirational sense: Here
>> is an 1853 example with an inverted sense. The phrase "attempt to
>> reach unto the sky" was used metaphorically to designate an action
>> that was certain to fail.
>>
>> Cite: 1853: The National Orange and Protestant Minstrel, Page 93,
>> Bradford: Squire Auty.
>>
>> So brothers all unite - love God with heart and hope,
>> And then our cause will prosper, and we need not fear the pope;
>> For he might then as well attempt to reach unto the sky,
>> As move us with his tyranny, so him we all defy.
>>
>> http://books.google.com/books?id=955bAAAAQAAJ&q=%22reach+unto%22#v=snippet&
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> 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."
>
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