"The race is not to the swift..."

[Jonathan Lighter]

Bigger apologies to Barry Popik, who independently dug up similar
information four years ago here:

http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/the_race_is_not_always_to_the_swift_no_the_battle_to_the_strong_but_thats_t

JL


On Mon, Dec 16, 2013 at 2:32 PM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      "The race is not to the swift..."
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> My apologies if Garson or Fred has already dealt with this famous saying
> here.
>
> I mean, of course, Damon Runyon's line about that being the way to bet.
>
> Based on a 1936 citation, YBQ advances the lpossibility that the true
> originator, or at least the first noted utterer of this wisdom, was not
> Runyon but the hournalist and racing enthusiast Hugh Keough (1864-1912).
>
> Here is corroboration, published long before Runyon's usage:
>
>
> Franklin P. Adams, in _Collier's Weekly_ (Feb. 8, 1919) p. 9:
>
> "My observation has been that there is more injustice, misfitting, and
> unfairness of promotion and retardment in civil life than there is in the
> Army. As Hugh Keough used to say, 'The race is not always to the swift, nor
> the battle to the strong, but that is the way to bet.'"
>
>
> If Keough ever committed his saying to print, I've been unable to find it.
> Or any earlier attribution to anyone.
>
> JL
>
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
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>



--
"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