fun with phrases

[Jonathan Lighter]

"That special someone."

Nothing before a song title in 1945, "You're that Special Someone."  Hardly
anything till the '50s, a moderate frequency of use in the '60s, then an
explosion begins in  the '70s.

JL

On Tue, Sep 27, 2011 at 11:17 AM, 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
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> A clear 1977, then really nothing till the mid-eighties. Then plenty.
>
> "It isn't who I am" shows up in '73, though not quite in the current sense.
> (It seems to mean, "That's not the sort of person I am," which is pretty
> close to current usage, though I think currently it tends also to mean, "It
> isn't the style or thing I prefer."
>
> There's also a '42 snippet, which, if correctly dated, easily admits a
> different interpretation, namely,  "It isn't who *I* am that counts; it's
> who *you* are."
>
> "That's who I am" presents too daunting a search.
>
> "That's not who I am" also shows a good one in 1973.
>
> JL
>
> On Tue, Sep 27, 2011 at 10:41 AM, Victor Steinbok <aardvark66 at gmail.com
> >wrote:
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Victor Steinbok <aardvark66 at GMAIL.COM>
> > Subject:      Re: fun with phrases
> >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > What about the flip-side: "It's not who I am"?
> >
> >     VS-)
> >
> > On 9/27/2011 9:02 AM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> > > "It's part of who I am."
> > >
> > > Nothin' nowhere before a likely 1975 in GB, with some in the '80s.
> > >
> > > Many in the '90s, more than 500 since 2000.
> > >
> > > JL
> >
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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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