the blade of life

[Dan Goncharoff]

The concept of "the blade of life" is older:

THE GRIND

Fate grinds the blade of life,
On his swift-whirling wheel;
This sharpens it for strife
but wears away the steel

John W. Garvin

published in 1916, may be earlier.


DanG


On Wed, May 28, 2014 at 8:34 AM, 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:      Re: the blade of life
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Thanks, Neal.
>
> "Bright College Days" was copyright by Thomas Andrew Lehrer at the Library
> of Congress on November 10, 1953.
>
> It appeared on his crt. 1953 album, _An Evening Wasted with Tom Lehrer_.
>
> Where it immediately follows "Poisoning Pigeons in the Park."
>
> JL
>
>
> On Tue, May 27, 2014 at 9:52 PM, Neal Whitman <nwhitman at ameritech.net
> >wrote:
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Neal Whitman <nwhitman at AMERITECH.NET>
> > Subject:      Re: the blade of life
> >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > Tom Lehrer, "Bright College Days"
> >
> > "Soon we'll be out, amid the cold world's strife,
> > Soon we'll be sliding down the razor-blade of life.
> > But as we go our assorted separate ways,
> > We shall ne'er forget thee,
> > Thou golden college days."
> >
> > On 5/27/2014 9:23 PM, Jonathan Lighter 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 blade of life
> > >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > >
> > > CNN's Jake Tapper prefaced some remarks the other day with the phrase,
> > "As
> > > you slide down the razor blade of life...."
> > >
> > > 257 raw Google hits, at least back to 2005. One person attributes it to
> > Tom
> > > Lehrer.
> > >
> > > 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
> >
>
>
>
> --
> "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