"There's an old saying..."

[Garson O'Toole]

The following (unverifed) lyrics may be apropos.

http://www.stlyrics.com/songs/l/logginsmessina62627/rocknrollmood2207209.html

Loggins & Messina
Rock 'n' Roll Mood Lyrics
Album: Sittin' In

[Begin excerpt]
They say nobody's friend, is nobody's fool
That's an old saying that I just made up
[End excerpt]

Garson

On Sat, Sep 1, 2012 at 5:53 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: "There's an old saying..."
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On Sat, Sep 1, 2012 at 10:08 AM, Jonathan Lighter
> <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
>> people seem to say "There's an old saying...." when what
>> they mean is something like, "I heard somebody say this, or something very
>> much like it, on one occasion, and it stuck in my mind because it's so
>> clever or succinct."
>
> It could even be just a mindfart. I was once in the habit of
> introducing a wholly-new subject into a conversation with the words,
> "As I've said…" I got away with this for a long time, it being
> difficult, in a general conversation, to know whether anyone has
> broached any particular subject before and nobody cares, anyroad. But
> it got to be too much for my then-girlfriend, since she knew that I
> hadn't said any such thing to her at any earlier point in the
> relationship: "Why do you keep saying 'As I've said,' when you've
> *never* said *anything* like that to me before?!!!"
>
> Youneverknow.
> --
> -Wilson
> -----
> All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint
> to come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
> -Mark Twain
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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