"like a herd of turtles"

[Jonathan Lighter]

Nice, Garson. The "1936" does imply sloth.

JL


On Fri, Jun 6, 2014 at 3:26 PM, ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com
> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: "like a herd of turtles"
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> 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."
> >
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> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



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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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