You Only Live Once - YOLO

[Ben Zimmer]

I take a look at "YOLO" (possible WOTY candidate?) in my latest Boston
Globe column, citing Garson on the history of the expanded expression.

http://b.globe.com/yolobz

--bgz


On Thu, May 24, 2012 at 3:49 PM, Garson O'Toole
<adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Some students who are about to graduate from High School asked me
> about a phrase and an acronym that have recently been popularized by
> hip hop artist Drake. Here is link to a post on the topic:
>
> You Only Live Once – YOLO
> http://quoteinvestigator.com/2012/05/24/live-once/
>
> The Yale Books of Quotations has a 1923 citation for “We only live
> once.” The Dictionary of Modern Proverbs has a 1966 cite for a
> variant: “You only go around (round) once in life.”
>
> The QI entry above lists some cites in the 1800s. It is not easy (for
> me) to determine when the phrase is being used as a proverb, motto, or
> catch phrase. So I included a variety of examples.
>
> Some extended versions of the saying are attributed to the comedian
> Joe E. Lewis such the following in 1952:
>
> You only live once, but if you work it right, once is enough.
>
> Additional interesting examples would be welcome. Thanks.

--
Ben Zimmer
http://benzimmer.com/

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