"bring a lot to the party"

[Charles C Doyle]

Related, somehow, to the cliche about what one "brings to the table"?

--Charlie

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From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] on behalf of Jonathan Lighter [wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM]
Sent: Sunday, May 06, 2012 10:55 AM
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A current commercial shows vegetables whooping it up in the kitchen with a
bottle of Ensure. A sexy-sounding new kind of Ensure arrives. "You bring a
lot to the party!" says her male counterpart.

This cliche' means 'to have many desirable qualities; to contribute
significantly to someone else's effort or undertaking.'

1984 Jim Shepard _Flight_  (N.Y.: New American Library) 53 [GB snippet:
seems real]: "Your friends are my friends," his mother said. His father
took the spoon from her hand and piled more peas onto his plate. "You *bring
a lot to the party*, you know it?" he said. "I know it," his mother said.

1985  Tim Carrington  _The Year They Sold Wall Street_ (Boston: Houghton
Mifflin) 172 [GB snippet: looks real]: Summarizing the Canadian's words,
Jacobs wrote: " 'I will *bring a lot to the party*. I can help the firm."

And many exx. steadily since.

JL

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