Fun with phrases

Laurence Horn laurence.horn at YALE.EDU
Thu Jan 26 00:44:56 UTC 2012 

Or as Safire memorably put it (when discussing how you can detect obscenity), "It's not the teat, it's the tumidity".

LH

On Jan 25, 2012, at 6:56 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:

> "It isn't the heat. It's the humidity."
>
> No 19th C. GB or NewspArch hits.
>
> 1917 ad for _Vanity Fair_ magazine in _House & Garden_ [GB snippet:
> typeface and ref. to Plattsburg army training camp make it look
> legit]:   Let other people restate the safe-and-sane truths that
> dinner is their best meal; that if you saw that sunset in a painting
> you wouldn't believe it; and that it isn't the heat, it's the
> humidity.
>
> 1920 _Miami Herald_ (June 18) [Am. Hist. Newsp.] 6: ...and we swear
> it; we/ Have never had to say, "It's not/ The heat. It's the
> humidity."
>
> (Most recent OED "humidity" is 1871.)
>
> JL
>
> On Mon, Jan 23, 2012 at 10:05 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
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> "Who _are_ you? (I mean) _really_?"
>>
>> Fantasy/thriller cliche'.
>>
>> 1950  Ray Bradbury _The Martian Chronicles_ (Garden City, N.Y.:
>> Doubleday) 153:    Who are you, _really_? You can't be Tom, but you
>> are _someone_. Who?
>>
>> JL
>>
>> On Mon, Dec 5, 2011 at 8:01 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: Fun with phrases
>>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>
>>> "rewriting the rules"
>>>
>>> E.g.: "Founder of avant-rock band Pere Ubu, singer David Thomas has
>>> been rewriting the rules of popular music for more than twenty-eight
>>> years."
>>>
>>> It's like throwing the book away and writing your own rules. And
>>> *they* have to play by them! Feels great, doesn't it?
>>>
>>> Far more GB hits in the last ten years than in the preceding hundred.
>>> Very few in the 19th C. What's more important, pre-1980 exx. tend very
>>> strongly to refer to the literal rewriting of actual rules - not the
>>> sort of thing David Thomas has been doing.
>>>
>>> Cf. "(But) the rules have changed!" earlier in this series.
>>>
>>> JL
>>>
>>> On Wed, Nov 23, 2011 at 1:48 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: Fun with phrases
>>>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>>
>>>> "comes with a hefty price-tag"
>>>>
>>>> Often the price-tag is figurative.  OED has a 1951 "price-tag"
>>>> ('monetary price'), but not in this construction.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> 1957 (Jan. 1) _Directory of Fellowships in the  Arts and Sciences_
>>>> (Washington, D.C.: Assoc of Amer. Colleges) 5 [unverified GB snippet]:
>>>> For the modern graduate student, however, advanced learning comes with
>>>> a large price tag attached.
>>>>
>>>> 1968 _Yuma Daily Sun_ (Nov. 8) 4 [NewspArch]: Marketing a new
>>>> plaything with a hefty price tag.
>>>>
>>>> 1978 C. W. Brister _Take Care_ (Nashville, Tenn.: Broadmann) 45
>>>> [unverified GB snippet] : Small wonder that heroism comes with a high
>>>> price tag and that fear for one's own safety holds some would-be
>>>> helpers back.
>>>>
>>>> The ref. on GB "1944" to Canadian politicians "Richard Nerysoo" and
>>>> "Stan J. Hovdebo"   shows the date to be about 40 years too early.
>>>>
>>>> "With a hefty price-tag" gets close to 11,000,000 raw Google hits.
>>>>
>>>> JL
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Tue, Nov 22, 2011 at 10:06 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: Fun with phrases
>>>>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>>>
>>>>> "Welcome to the [wonderful] world of...!"
>>>>>
>>>>> In discussing yesterday's superfailure, somebody on CNN said, "Welcome
>>>>> to the world of politics!" Sarcastically, of course, which is about
>>>>> the only way the phrase is used nowadays outside of the wonderful
>>>>> world of glib, meretricious promotions.
>>>>>
>>>>> GB coughs up some 28,000 [!] exx. of "welcome to the wonderful world of" alone.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> 1937 _Bankers Magazine_ CXXXV 480 [GB Snippet: looks real]: Leslie G.
>>>>> McDouall... delivered an address of "Welcome to the World of Business
>>>>> and Affairs."
>>>>>
>>>>> 1957 Jerry D. Lewis _Great Stories about Show Business_ (N.Y.: Coward
>>>>> McCann) 7: Welcome to the wonderful world of Show Business, where
>>>>> people possess the secret of perpetual motion.
>>>>>
>>>>> 1959 Adrian A. Paradis _Librarians Wanted_  (N.Y.: McKay) 3: Welcome
>>>>> to the World of Libraries.
>>>>>
>>>>> 1960 Charles H. Goren _The Elements of Bridge_ (Garden City, N.Y.:
>>>>> Doubleday) vii: Welcome to the world of bridge.
>>>>>
>>>>> From NewspArch:
>>>>>
>>>>> 1962 _Charleston [W.Va.] Daily Mail_  (June 7) 9: COMPLETELY INSTALLED
>>>>> air conditioning and heating system / Welcome to the world of
>>>>> controlled comfort! Step inside...away from summer's blistering
>>>>> heat...away from winter's chilling blasts.
>>>>>
>>>>> 1965 _Independent Press-Telegram_  [Long Beach, Calif.] (Apr. 4) W-10:
>>>>> Washington State . . . Welcome to the World of Washington.
>>>>>
>>>>> 1967 _Valley News_ [Van Nuys, Calif.] (Nov. 16) 10-B: Welcome to the
>>>>> world of Trans World Airlines.
>>>>>
>>>>> 1969 _Winnipeg Free Press: Weekend Magazine_ (July 19) 16:  Welcome to
>>>>> the world of the perambulating pub.
>>>>>
>>>>> 1974 _The Capital_ [Annapolis. Md.] (Apr. 25) 35: Welcome to the world
>>>>> of modeling.
>>>>>
>>>>> I remember hearing it ad nauseam in the mid to late '60s.   GB has
>>>>> some "earlier" ones, but they either seem not to fit the present
>>>>> nuance, or else the dates seem dubious.
>>>>>
>>>>> JL
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> On Tue, Nov 15, 2011 at 4:07 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: Fun with phrases
>>>>>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>>>>
>>>>>> 1835 E. J. Trelawny _Adventures of a Younger Son_ (London: Bentley)
>>>>>> 257: She had wound herself about my heart till she became a part of
>>>>>> me. Our extreme youth, ardent nature, and solitude, had wrought our
>>>>>> feeling of affection towards each other to an intensity that perhaps
>>>>>> was never equalled, assuredly never surpassed.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Hot stuff.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> JL
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On Tue, Nov 15, 2011 at 1:33 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 Tue, Nov 15, 2011 at 12:35 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>>>>>>> [...]
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Numerous other exx. of most of these phrases, and some others that are
>>>>>>>> similar ("You'' laugh! You'll cry! You'll love it!" is quite popoular)
>>>>>>>> right into the 21st C.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Also, "I laughed, I cried, it became a part of me," which became a
>>>>>>> sarcastic catchphrase in the late '80s.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> --bgz
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> --
>>>>>>> Ben Zimmer
>>>>>>> http://benzimmer.com/
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>>>>>>> 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
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> --
>>>>> "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
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> "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
>
>
>
> --
> "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

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