Fun with Phrases: "based on the real-life story"

[Jonathan Lighter]

A quick look suggests that very early exx. in GB may be unreliable. I see,
e.g., "real life-story."

JL

On Fri, Mar 8, 2013 at 9:56 AM, ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com
> wrote:

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> Poster:       ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Fun with Phrases: "based on the real-life story"
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Jonathan Lighter wrote
> >
> > 1927 Walter Duranty in _N. Y. Times_ (Apr. 10) E9: "The Mullah's Third
> > Wife" ...is based on the real life story of a Tartar girl in a small town
> > of the autonomous Tartar Republic on the upper Volga, where Miss Squire
> > spent fourteen months.
> >
> > 1934 _Syracuse Herald_  (Sept. 9)  "Sutter's Gold" is based on the real
> > life story of Capt. John A. Sutter, a Swiss immigrant who came to
> > California in 1838.
> >
> > The phrase becomes common in NewspArch papers in 1936 (with and without
> > hyphen) - but not in the N.Y. Times till the mid-1960s. (Bosley Crowther
> > used it once in 1945).
>
> Here is "real life story" versus "true life story" in the Ngram
> viewer. Will one form dominate?
>
> http://bit.ly/WyDlMy
>
> Here is "real life" versus "true life" in the Ngram viewer. Will one
> form dominate?
>
> http://bit.ly/15C3Q4c
>
> The Ngram viewer is flawed but it can still be fun, I think.
>
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