QOTY?

[Joel S. Berson]

Gee, it sounds like it might have and I was wishing it did come from Dickens.

:-(
Joel

At 9/28/2012 05:13 PM, Garson O'Toole wrote:
>Thanks to Joel, Jon, and Charlie for pointing out this expression.
>
>The phrase was used by Dandy Don Meredith while he was providing
>commentary for Monday Night Football along with Howard Cosell. The
>rendition in the following citation uses a singular 'if'.
>
>Cite: 1970 November 11, Gastonia Gazette, Frady's Views by Dwight
>Frady, Page 2-B, Column 1, Gastonia, North Carolina.
>(NewspaperArchive)
>
>[Begin excerpt]
>I liked it Monday when he used the word "if," which you can always
>fall upon discussing something which has just happened in sports or
>when you're second-guessing.
>Dandy said: "If 'if' and 'buts' were candy and nuts, what a Merry
>Christmas we would have."
>[End excerpt]
>
>Here is another instance.
>
>Cite: 1970 December 17, Ada Evening News, Last Look at the Arena by
>Ernest Thompson, Page 7, Column 1, Ada, Oklahoma. (NewspaperArchive)
>
>[Begin excerpt]
>Howard:"If Los Angeles wins, it's a big one, but San Francisco is
>still very much in it."
>Don: "If ifs and buts were candy and nuts, we'd all have a merry Christmas."
>Howard: "I didn't think you'd remember that old canard."
>Don: "Is that what it was?"
>[End excerpt]
>
>
>Barry Popik has an entry for the phrase. The first citation is the one
>dated December 17, 1970 given immediately above.
>
>  "If ifs and buts were candy and nuts, we'd all have a merry Christmas"
>Entry from November 28, 2006
>
>http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/if_ifs_and_buts_were_candy_and_nuts_wed_all_have_a_merry_christmas/
>
>http://bit.ly/UUs8DL
>
>There is a match for a version of the phrase in "The Bible 2.0 by
>Nathan Smithe" in the Google Books database. The work has an assigned
>GB date of 1969, but the date appears to be incorrect because the book
>contains the sentence: "Tru Hullywood stories about Lindsey Lohun."
>
>Garson
>
>On Fri, Sep 28, 2012 at 10:17 AM, Charles C Doyle <cdoyle at uga.edu> wrote:
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Charles C Doyle <cdoyle at UGA.EDU>
> > Subject:      Re: QOTY?
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > Google Books seems to give an instance of "If ifs and buts were
> candy and nuts, every day would be Christmas" from 1977 (I expect
> Garson can take it back farther), and some from the 1980s.
> >
> > As for the rhyming wellerism "'Later we'll all die,' / Said the
> gator to the fly":  The context suggests that something like an
> "old saying" is being quoted--but what (if anything)??
> >
> > --Charlie
> >
> > ________________________________________
> > From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] on behalf
> of Jonathan Lighter [wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM]
> > Sent: Thursday, September 27, 2012 6:09 PM
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > In "Bad Teacher" the put-upon principal tells Miss Squirrel he'll talk
> > about something "later."
> >
> > She says didactically , "'_Later_ we'll all die',/ Said the gator to the
> > fly!"
> >
> > The principal says "What?" in that special, intense way reserved for the
> > irritatingly incomprehensible.
> >
> > JL
> >
> >
> > On Thu, Sep 27, 2012 at 4:49 PM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
> >
> >>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >>
> >> Romney "political director" Rich Beeson, telling us why, even if he
> >> loses Ohio, he might still manage being elected:  "If ifs and buts
> >> were candy and nuts, every day would be Christmas."
> >>
> >> A potential QOTY whoever wins the election.
> >>
> >> http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/27/opinion/collins-ohio-gets-the-love.html
> >>
> >> Joel
> >
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>
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