Fun with phrases

Baker, John JBAKER at STRADLEY.COM
Thu Jan 26 02:26:31 UTC 2012 

        The 1916 example from The Smart Set implies that blaming the humidity rather than the heat was an all-too-popular cliché of the time, an impression strengthened by the 1917 Vanity Fair citation.  The implication is that the phrase must have achieved broad popularity shortly before that time.  Perhaps 1915 had a particularly humid summer.  For example, the Boston Evening Globe (Aug. 13, 1915) (Access Newspaper Archive) advises, "No folks, it isn't excessive heat that's causing you so much trouble today.  It is the doings of our old friend Lieut Col Humidity - the fellow who used to be called Gen Humidity, but whose former title has expired of old age."


        Incidentally, I took a look at some more pages of The Smart Set, which Garson found.  It's truly awful, and it makes me think less of H.L. Mencken for having edited it.


John Baker


-----Original Message-----
From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of Garson O'Toole
Sent: Wednesday, January 25, 2012 7:31 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: Fun with phrases

Thanks Jon. Some blame must be allocated to the Encyclopaedia
Britannica of 1824.

Title Encyclopaedia Britannica: or, A dictionary of arts and sciences,.
Year: 1824
[Begin excerpt]
It is clear, that not the heat but the humidity of the climate creates
the. numerous debilitating infirmities of these plains ; for in
Maracaybo, Santa Marta, Rio de la Hacha, and other places on the banks
of the rivers, equally warm, ..
[End excerpt]

Years later when this cliche was well established it drove a man to
contemplate a terrible deed.

Date: 1916 April
Title: The Smart Set: A Magazine of Cleverness
Volume 48
Story Title: The Murder of Julius K. Higgins
Author: Maurice Bowman Phipps
http://books.google.com/books?id=R3dHAAAAYAAJ&q=%22heat+he%22#v=snippet&
[Begin excerpt]
It was when he told me, in strict confidence, that it was not the heat
he minded but the humidity that I decided to murder him, and to murder
him at once if I did not wish to lose the twelve-forty-five.
[End excerpt]

Garson

On Wed, Jan 25, 2012 at 6:56 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
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> "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

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