The Fickle Finger of Fate

[Jonathan Lighter]

The mere "finger of Fate," of course, was once a literary cliche'. Usually
it "pointed" at someone rather than, um, that alliterative thing I've heard
of it doing.

JL


On Wed, Jan 15, 2014 at 4:50 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: The Fickle Finger of Fate
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Just prior to being dingled by the dangling dong of destiny, I've often
> been fucked by that.
>
>
> On Wed, Jan 15, 2014 at 4:01 PM, Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
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> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at GMAIL.COM>
> > Subject:      Re: The Fickle Finger of Fate
> >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > Oops, YDN archive does not present results in true date order.
> >
> > The Yale Daily News no. 7
> > October 5 1936:
> > THE WINDMILL
> >
> > "The foul finesse of the fickle finger of Fate has long been a subject of
> > hard comment."
> >
> > DanG
> >
> >
> > On Wed, Jan 15, 2014 at 3:57 PM, Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at gmail.com>
> > wrote:
> >
> > > In your time period:
> > >
> > > The Yale Daily News no. 53
> > >  November 27 1937: Harvard's Benchley Soaks Eli's Woolley
> > >
> > > "But for some inscrutable reason the fickle finger of Fate pointed out
> to
> > > him that he should raise a beard."
> > >
> > > Makes me wonder if it came from vaudeville or Hollywood...
> > >
> > >
> > > DanG
> > >
> > >
> > > On Wed, Jan 15, 2014 at 1:59 PM, Jonathan Lighter <
> > wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>wrote:
> > >
> > >> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > >> -----------------------
> > >> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > >> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> > >> Subject:      The Fickle Finger of Fate
> > >>
> > >>
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > >>
> > >> Some of us may associate this phrase with Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In
> > (where
> > >> it figured in the weekly "Flying Fickle Finger of Fate Award."
> > >>
> > >> Others, more knowledgeable, believe it arose during World War II.
> > >>
> > >> Both wrong:
> > >>
> > >> 1934 _Arcadia [Calif.] Tribune_ (July 7) 7: But the fickle finger of
> > >> fate...decreed otherwise.
> > >>
> > >> 1936 _Ruston [La.] Daily Ledger_   (May 2) 4: Anyway, we hope the
> little
> > >> pup has better luck than his predecessors, whose lives were cut short
> by
> > >> the fickle finger of fate.
> > >>
> > >> 1937 _Times-Picayune_ (N.O.) (Aug. 8) IV 2: Kissinger is the
> > correspondent
> > >> responsible for the vivid "fickle finger of fate" account of McLaney's
> > >> injury.
> > >>
> > >> The fickle finger strikes, and, having struck, moves on....
> > >>
> > >> JL
> > >>
> > >> --
> > >> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
> > >> truth."
> > >>
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> > >>
> > >
> > >
> >
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>
>
> --
> -Wilson
> -----
> All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint to
> come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
> -Mark Twain
>
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--
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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