believe you me in oed

[Garson O'Toole]

Here is "Believe thou me" in 1805, I think
.
The Piccolomini's: A Drama In Five Acts from the German of Schiller
[Friedrich Schiller]
http://books.google.com/books?id=3EoHAAAAQAAJ&q=%22believe+thou%22#v=snippet&

We've found, thank heaven each other! together will we cling,
Firm, and for ever. -  Believe thou me, that this,
Is more for us than ever they intended.

On Fri, Sep 23, 2011 at 5:10 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: believe you me in oed
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I was trying to cover the possibility that "believ'st thou me" might appear
> as a question, a direct statement, or even an ungrammatical imperative.  It
> didn't. There were no hits on "believe thou me" either
>
> As a putative 18th C. imperative (with "you"), the question is still open
> because of the
> nearly 18,000 (presumably) false positives.
>
> JL
>
> On Fri, Sep 23, 2011 at 4:32 PM, Gordon, Matthew J.
> <GordonMJ at missouri.edu>wrote:
>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       "Gordon, Matthew J." <GordonMJ at MISSOURI.EDU>
>> Subject:      Re: believe you me in oed
>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> Maybe I'm missing your point, but the verb in "believe you me" is
>> imperative, isn't it? So 2nd singular precedents wouldn't have the
>> indicative -est suffix.
>>
>> -Matt Gordon
>>
>> On Sep 23, 2011, at 2:14 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>>
>> > ECCO finds nothing at all for the following:
>> >
>> > believest thou me
>> >
>> > believ'st thou me
>> >
>> > Then there are 17,000+ hits for "believe you me."
>> >
>> > Every one I've checked is actually no more than "believe me."
>> >
>> > Not that I've checked every one, but the total absence of the other forms
>> > bodes poorly.
>> >
>> > JL
>> >
>> > On Fri, Sep 23, 2011 at 1:46 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: believe you me in oed
>> >>
>> >>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> >>
>> >> I should say, "World War II writings by veterans," to be precise.
>> >>
>> >> They may all have decided to make it up years later, those rascals.
>> >>
>> >> JL
>> >>
>> >> On Fri, Sep 23, 2011 at 1:43 PM, Jonathan Lighter <
>> wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com
>> >>> wrote:
>> >>
>> >>> Common in WWII, but more often "I shit you not."
>> >>>
>> >>> JL
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>> On Fri, Sep 23, 2011 at 1:24 PM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu
>> >>> wrote:
>> >>>
>> >>>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> >>>> -----------------------
>> >>>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> >>>> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
>> >>>> Subject:      Re: believe you me in oed
>> >>>>
>> >>>>
>> >>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> >>>>
>> >>>> There's "I kid you not", of Jack Paar (at least evanescent) fame.
>> >>>>
>> >>>> LH
>> >>>>
>> >>>> On Sep 23, 2011, at 10:39 AM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>> >>>>
>> >>>>> Nice one, Dave.
>> >>>>>
>> >>>>> Just check the syntax.
>> >>>>>
>> >>>>> JL
>> >>>>>
>> >>>>> On Fri, Sep 23, 2011 at 10:19 AM, David Barnhart <
>> >>>> dbarnhart at highlands.com>wrote:
>> >>>>>
>> >>>>>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> >>>>>> -----------------------
>> >>>>>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> >>>>>> Poster:       David Barnhart <dbarnhart at HIGHLANDS.COM>
>> >>>>>> Subject:      believe you me in oed
>> >>>>>>
>> >>>>>>
>> >>>>
>> >>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> >>>>>>
>> >>>>>> The turn of phrase must go back further than 1808 (OED's earliest
>> >>>> quote).
>> >>>>>>
>> >>>>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> >>>>>> 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
>> >>>>
>> >>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> >>>> 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."
>> >>>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> --
>> >> "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."
>> >
>> > ------------------------------------------------------------
>> > 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
>

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