[Ads-l] Get one's goat

[Ben Zimmer]

On Wed, Dec 3, 2014 at 9:15 AM, Michael Quinion wrote:
>
> Thanks to Garson O'Toole for the 1903 citation, to to others for prompting
> me to update my piece about the idiom, which is at bit.ly/1FNUlko .
>
> In it, I note there a widely circulated joke from the 1880s that uses "get
> my goats", which may have some bearing on the origin of the expression.
> Your comments are welcomed.

Garson noted in a followup post that the Indianapolis Sun item was
misdated by NewspaperArchive -- the likely date for that was 1908, not
1903.

http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2014-October/134508.html

So Stephen Goranson's find from Oct. 21, 1905 (Public Opinion) is
still the earliest known use of the full expression. See:

http://www.vocabulary.com/articles/wordroutes/getting-ones-goat-can-you-help-solve-the-mystery/

--bgz

-- 
Ben Zimmer
http://benzimmer.com/

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