fun with phrases

[Laurence Horn]

On Sep 27, 2011, at 4:42 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:

> "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

Strangely, I kept thinking I was familiar with "special someone" from a song, but it wasn't this one, and it turned out after extensive googling that it wasn't "special someone" at all I was recalling, but "You are my special angel" from the early 60's.  I don't remember the 1945 song, even from listening to oldies stations in the 50's.

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