Phrase: none of your funeral (antedating 1850 July 6) also shift in semantics

[Jonathan Lighter]

Seriously, my schlock-gefuehl suggests that the phrase may have originated
as the punch-line of some now forgotten jest.

JL

On Tue, May 10, 2011 at 10:28 AM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: Phrase: none of your funeral (antedating 1850 July 6)
> also
>              shift              in semantics
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> At 5:03 AM -0400 5/10/11, Stephen Goranson wrote:
> >
> >funeral, adj. and n.
> >Phrases Orig. U.S. slang.
> >1. none of your (our, etc.) funeral : no affair of yours (ours, etc.),
> >nothing to do with you (us, etc.).
> >
> >2. your ((etc.) funeral : your (etc.) affair or concern (often with an
> >implication of unpleasant consequences).
> >
> >...
> >The fist cite for Phrase 2 is:
> >1908    S. E. White Riverman vii. 60   However, it's your funeral.
> >Come on, if you want to.
> >
>
> Later adapted for that 60's zombie pop hit, "It's my funeral and I'll
> come if I want to"
>
> LH
>
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