"like a herd of turtles"

ADSGarson O'Toole adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM
Fri Jun 6 19:26:44 UTC 2014


The journal American Speech mentioned "herd of turtles" in 1938. You
probably found this cite JL.

Date: December 1938
Journal: American Speech
Article: Slang among Nebraska Negroes
Author: Merle Herriford
Volume 13, Number 4
Start Page: 316
Quote Page: 317
Publisher: Duke University Press
Database: JSTOR

http://www.jstor.org/stable/451352

[Begin excerpt]
Last may  be  noted  some  picturesque similes: take off like a herd
of turtles, kneehigh to a tall Indian, higher than a Georgia pine...
[End excerpt]


Here is an unverified citation circa 1936 in Kansas.

Year: 1936 (so sayeth GB)
Title: Kansas Teacher and Western School Journal, Volumes 43-44
Contributor: Kansas State Teachers' Association
Quote Page: 17
(GB snippet data; may be inaccurate; probes for 1936 indicate that the
volume probably does contain material from 1936)

[Begin excerpt]
In the betterment of schools through the passage of more liberal laws
we have moved with the celerity of a herd of turtles, and with the
certitude of a one-legged blind man lost in a fog.
      — F. L. P.
[End excerpt]

Garson


On Fri, Jun 6, 2014 at 2:43 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:      "like a herd of turtles"
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Straight Dope discussion:
>
>  http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=131044
>
> 1946 _Coe [College] Cosmos_ [Cedar Rapids, Ia.] (Jan. 30): The bell rings
> and we see your favorite people and mine rushing like a herd of turtles for
> the dining room.
>
> 1967 _Time_ (Sept. 22): Then, recalls Platoon Sergeant John E. Lewis, 22,
> "the enemy came across the paddies in waves like a herd of turtles."
>
> The HDAS files have several exx., but none earlier than 1946.  (_I, the
> Jury_, [1952], affords it an appearance in classic literature.) 169,000 raw
> Google hits.
>
> The usual implication is not slowness but headlong confusion.
>
> Don't know about anyone else, but I recognize "your favorite people and
> mine" as a TV-radio cliche' of the godawfully distant past. Seven raw
> Google hits besides the newspaper.
>
> JL
>
>
>
> --
> "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

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



More information about the Ads-l mailing list