fun with phrases

Fri Oct 7 10:27:11 UTC 2011

Great work, G.

I recall hearing or reading a variation of the same joke in the late 1950s.
I can't recall any of the details, but the gist was the same.

"That was then, this is now."

In YBQ as the title of S. E. Hinton's 1971 teen novel.  However:

1876 Bertha de Jongh _We are Worldlings_ (London: Bentley) I 30: "He would
have been so useful; think how I used to make him fetch and carry — " " Yes
; *that was _then_ ; this is now* ;" said Jenny.

1911 _American Florist_ (June 21) 1327: Don't go back to stage coach days!
... That was then, this is now!

1920 _Printers' Ink Monthly_ (Feb.) 84: When you used to think of the
neighbors, it was only the stone's-throw-folks.... But that was _then_. This
is _now_. The Huns changed all that when they crossed the Belgian frontier.

Occasional use from then on. Most of the 1970's hits seem to be ads for
Hinton's novel.  A flood later.

I have a friend who says it frequently.

JL
.
On Thu, Oct 6, 2011 at 10:35 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: fun with phrases
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> "What have you done for me lately?"
>
> This is my candidate for a vogue phrase. I was asked about its
> "origin" recently, and I did not think that a phrase of this type
> would have an origin. But I may have discovered an important locus of
> popularization.
>
> The Google Books Ngram Viewer for the shortened phrase "you done for
> me lately" shows a flat line (roughly zero) until the early 1940s and
> then a rapid ascent up until the 1970s. There is a dip in the late
> 1980s and then another ascent.
>
> http://goo.gl/mjI2q
>
> What happened in the early 1940s? Versions of the joke below were
> printed in important periodicals, e.g., the mass circulation Reader's
> Digest. The instance given here was published by Bennett Cerf, the
> influential quotation and anecdote collector, in his column in the
> Saturday Review magazine.
>
> The wide dissemination of this joke might be coincidental, but I
> cannot find earlier examples of the cliché catch phrase. The joke is
> an elaborate extended "groaner" in my opinion, but the punch line may
> have been new to many readers in 1943.
>
> Cite: 1943 March 13, Saturday Review, Trade Winds by Bennett Cerf,
> page 13, Column 2, Saturday Review Associates, New York. (Verified on
> paper)
>
> A TRAVELER for a big publishing house couldn't wait to get to St.
> Louis, where his oldest friend owned a prosperous bookstore. "Sam," he
> said to the owner the moment they were alone, "I want you to lend me
> $2000.00." "The answer, Joe," said Sam, "is positively no." "But,
> Sam," protested the salesman, "In 1929, when Bond and Share broke from
> 189 to 50, who gave you ten thousand dollars to keep you from being
> wiped out?" "You did," admitted Sam. "And in 1931, when your daughter
> Shirley had that tropical disease, who took her down to Florida
> because you couldn't get away from business, who did, Sam?" "You, my
> friend, you did."
>
> "And in 1933, when we were fishing together, who dove into the rapids
> and saved you from drowning at the risk of his own life?" "You did,
> Joe. It was wonderful!" "Well, then, Sam, in Heaven's name, why won't
> you lend me $2000.00 now when I need it?" "All the things you say are
> true," said Sam, nodding his head slowly, "But what have you done for
> me lately?" . . .
>
> Garson
>
> On Thu, Oct 6, 2011 at 8:48 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 Thu, Oct 6, 2011 at 7:28 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> >>
> >> "Suddenly, the rules had changed."
> >>
> >> Not usu. "rules" but conditions, common practice, etc. Another dramatic
> >> rhetorical cliche'.
> >>
> >> Nothing in GB before 1991. Nothing in Time archives.
> >
> > "Plays by his own rules."
> >
> > Virtually nonexistent before the '70s. The Ngram Viewer shows a big
> > jump in the '90s.
> >
> > --bgz
> >
> > --
> > Ben Zimmer
> > http://benzimmer.com/
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > 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