"What part of no don't you understand?"

Sun Jun 24 20:55:28 UTC 2012

1989 _Santa Fe Reporter_  (Oct. 19) 21 [NewspArch]: Health Watch Victor La
Cerva, M.D.[:]  RAPE MYTHS  What part of "NO" don't you understand?

JL

On Sun, Jun 24, 2012 at 4:49 PM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>wrote:

> My possibly unreliable feeling is "No means no" goes back before 1963 as a
> standard parental comeback to importuning youth.
>
> JL
>
>
> On Sun, Jun 24, 2012 at 11:49 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: "What part of no don't you understand?"
>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> The 1994 book might have been a vector, but I associate this phrase,
>> along with "No means no!", with anti-date-rape campaign on college
>> campuses that started in full somewhere in 1985-6 (some local campaigns
>> likely date earlier, but this is when it became national). So 1989 Nexis
>> date sounds just about right. But I'm not even sure that's the "origin".
>> I expect that the companion "No means no!" reaches at least into the
>> 1970s, at least in its association with anti-rape messages, but it also
>> appears that Dear Abby column might have served as a vector (in broader
>> circumstances) in the early 1980s, followed by Susan Estrich's book
>> "Rape" in 1987. In either case, the phrase was already established.
>>
>> In fact, the phrase itself is older.
>>
>> ==
>> The Court Says 'No' Means 'No'
>>  Pay-Per-View -
>> Christian Science Monitor - May 17, 1961
>> The United States Supreme Court has refused to review a decision of the
>> Vermont Supreme Court against payment from public funds of tuition for
>> high school ...
>> ==
>>
>> http://goo.gl/Lzogw
>> ABA Journal. Volume 49 (5). May 1963
>> The Regents' Prayer Case: In the Establishment Clause "No Means No". By
>> William J. Butler. p. 444
>> > The Constitution says that the government shall take no part in the
>> > establishment of religion. No means no.
>>
>>
>> http://goo.gl/ql84V
>> Gaining Equal Rights Means A Struggle For All Women [Dear Abby]
>> Pittsburgh Press - May 12, 1980. P. A-14/5
>> > DEAR ABBY: If you could give the young parents of today just one piece
>> > of advice, what would it be? -- NEW MOTHER
>> > Start early. By consistent. A child must learn that no means no. It
>> > doesn't mean maybe. And maybe doesn't mean yes.
>>
>>
>> http://goo.gl/iz3bN
>> Grandma Must Learn To Say No [Dear Abby]
>> Tuscaloosa News - Oct 21, 1982. P. 6/2
>> > DEAR MOM: Your problem is not your sons, it's you! You haven't learned
>> > how to say no to your sons and make it stick. Start now to say no with
>> > a firmness and conviction leaves absolutely no doubt that your no
>> > means NO, and no "maybe" or "yes."
>>
>>
>> As for "What/which part of no don't you understand?", St Louis
>> Post-Dispatch appears to have one in the archives from 1989:
>>
>> St. Louis Post-Dispatch : Bond Issue For Water Passes, But...
>> $2.95 -
>> St. Louis Post-Dispatch - Feb 9, 1989
>> ''I've had quite a few people approach me and ask which part of 'No' I
>> didn't understand.'' But he said he would approach the board tonight
>> with a plan to ...
>>
>> Aside from that, GNA also finds a bunch of hits from 1991-2, where the
>> phrase is associated with "buttons and bumper stickers" and
>> "demonstrators". But not all of them identify it as an anti-rape slogan
>> (taxes being the other big "NO!" issue). For example,
>>
>> http://goo.gl/oJtgk
>> What The Men In Power Don't Get .
>> St. Petersburg Times - Oct 8, 1991. P. 1/6
>> > There's this motto popping up on buttons and bumper stickers that
>> > says: what part of NO don't you understand?" Perhaps we are ready to
>> > print another, and wear it around Washington, "What part of sexual
>> > harassment don't you understand?"
>>
>>
>> There are four GNA hits from 1991, starting on March 15. But what is
>> clear is that 1994 is much too late.
>>
>>     VS-)
>>
>> On 6/24/2012 9:21 AM, Shapiro, Fred wrote:
>> > What is this citation the effective origin of?  Nexis shows the phrase
>> in use back to 1989.
>> >
>> > Fred Shapiro
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > ________________________________________
>> > From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] on behalf of
>> Jonathan Lighter [wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM]
>> > Sent: Sunday, June 24, 2012 9:05 AM
>> > To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>> > Subject: "What part of no don't you understand?"
>> >
>> > Asked sarcastically.
>> >
>> > The effective origin appears to be:
>> >
>> > 1994 Dennis G. Korby _What Part of No Don't You Understand?: Avoiding
>> and
>> > Defending Against Rape_ (Livonia, Mich.: Koto Press). (Published July
>> 1.)
>> >
>> > The GB distribution suggests that the phr. was flourishing by 2000.
>> >
>> > JL
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> 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."
>

--
"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