Repartee: Oscar Wilde: I wish I had said that. James Whistler: You will, Oscar, you will

[Hugo]

The exact same text, save for a comma or two, as the May 1887 can be found in February 1887:

[Begin]
Whistler and Wilde.
A Boston artist tells this story of Whist­-
ler and Oscar Wilde, who has the repute­-
tion of, borrowing Whistler's bright
speeches. Having heard the artist say an
unusually good thing Oscar exclaimed,
deploringly: "I wish I could have said
that." "Oh," replied Whistler derisively,
"but you know you will say it."
[End]

Bottom of the second column of:

Jamestown weekly alert. (Jamestown, Stutsman County, D.T. [N.D.]), 10 Feb. 1887. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. <http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85042405/1887-02-10/ed-1/seq-5/>

Hugo




> Date:    Thu, 5 Sep 2013 15:30:18 -0400
> From:    ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject: Repartee: Oscar Wilde: I wish I had said that. James Whistler: You
>         will, Oscar, you will
> 
> A popular anecdote states that James McNeill Whistler (or somebody)
> made a humorous remark and the following statements were exchanged:
> 
> Oscar Wilde: I wish I had said that.
> James McNeill Whistler: You will, Oscar, you will
> 
> The Yale Book of Quotations has a citation in 1907. Fred later shared
> a great citation dated April 4, 1892 in the Yale Alumni magazine.
> 
> The QI website now has an exploration of the topic with citations
> starting in May 1887:
> 
> http://quoteinvestigator.com/2013/09/05/oscar-will/
> 
> Feedback, encomiums, and interesting citations welcome,
> Garson

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org