Fun with phrases

[Jonathan Lighter]

"Welcome to the [wonderful] world of...!"

In discussing yesterday's superfailure, somebody on CNN said, "Welcome
to the world of politics!" Sarcastically, of course, which is about
the only way the phrase is used nowadays outside of the wonderful
world of glib, meretricious promotions.

GB coughs up some 28,000 [!] exx. of "welcome to the wonderful world of" alone.


1937 _Bankers Magazine_ CXXXV 480 [GB Snippet: looks real]: Leslie G.
McDouall... delivered an address of "Welcome to the World of Business
and Affairs."

1957 Jerry D. Lewis _Great Stories about Show Business_ (N.Y.: Coward
McCann) 7: Welcome to the wonderful world of Show Business, where
people possess the secret of perpetual motion.

1959 Adrian A. Paradis _Librarians Wanted_  (N.Y.: McKay) 3: Welcome
to the World of Libraries.

1960 Charles H. Goren _The Elements of Bridge_ (Garden City, N.Y.:
Doubleday) vii: Welcome to the world of bridge.

>From NewspArch:

1962 _Charleston [W.Va.] Daily Mail_  (June 7) 9: COMPLETELY INSTALLED
air conditioning and heating system / Welcome to the world of
controlled comfort! Step inside...away from summer's blistering
heat...away from winter's chilling blasts.

1965 _Independent Press-Telegram_  [Long Beach, Calif.] (Apr. 4) W-10:
 Washington State . . . Welcome to the World of Washington.

1967 _Valley News_ [Van Nuys, Calif.] (Nov. 16) 10-B: Welcome to the
world of Trans World Airlines.

1969 _Winnipeg Free Press: Weekend Magazine_ (July 19) 16:  Welcome to
the world of the perambulating pub.

1974 _The Capital_ [Annapolis. Md.] (Apr. 25) 35: Welcome to the world
of modeling.

I remember hearing it ad nauseam in the mid to late '60s.   GB has
some "earlier" ones, but they either seem not to fit the present
nuance, or else the dates seem dubious.

JL


On Tue, Nov 15, 2011 at 4:07 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:      Re: Fun with phrases
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> 1835 E. J. Trelawny _Adventures of a Younger Son_ (London: Bentley)
> 257: She had wound herself about my heart till she became a part of
> me. Our extreme youth, ardent nature, and solitude, had wrought our
> feeling of affection towards each other to an intensity that perhaps
> was never equalled, assuredly never surpassed.
>
> Hot stuff.
>
> JL
>
> On Tue, Nov 15, 2011 at 1:33 PM, Ben Zimmer
> <bgzimmer at babel.ling.upenn.edu> wrote:
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at BABEL.LING.UPENN.EDU>
>> Subject:      Re: Fun with phrases
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> On Tue, Nov 15, 2011 at 12:35 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>> [...]
>>>
>>> Numerous other exx. of most of these phrases, and some others that are
>>> similar ("You'' laugh! You'll cry! You'll love it!" is quite popoular)
>>> right into the 21st C.
>>
>> Also, "I laughed, I cried, it became a part of me," which became a
>> sarcastic catchphrase in the late '80s.
>>
>> --bgz
>>
>> --
>> Ben Zimmer
>> http://benzimmer.com/
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> 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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"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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