Fun with phrases

Wed Nov 23 18:48:23 UTC 2011

"comes with a hefty price-tag"

Often the price-tag is figurative.  OED has a 1951 "price-tag"
('monetary price'), but not in this construction.

1957 (Jan. 1) _Directory of Fellowships in the  Arts and Sciences_
(Washington, D.C.: Assoc of Amer. Colleges) 5 [unverified GB snippet]:
For the modern graduate student, however, advanced learning comes with
a large price tag attached.

1968 _Yuma Daily Sun_ (Nov. 8) 4 [NewspArch]: Marketing a new
plaything with a hefty price tag.

1978 C. W. Brister _Take Care_ (Nashville, Tenn.: Broadmann) 45
[unverified GB snippet] : Small wonder that heroism comes with a high
price tag and that fear for one's own safety holds some would-be
helpers back.

The ref. on GB "1944" to Canadian politicians "Richard Nerysoo" and
"Stan J. Hovdebo"   shows the date to be about 40 years too early.

"With a hefty price-tag" gets close to 11,000,000 raw Google hits.

JL

On Tue, Nov 22, 2011 at 10:06 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
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> "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:
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>>> 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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>> 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
>

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

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