[Ads-l] [C18-L] Rochester, children, and theories

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Hot off the electronic presses:

I Had Six Theories About Bringing Up Children
http://quoteinvestigator.com/2015/04/26/children/

The entry included a fun 1916 precursor:

[Begin excerpt]
"I have many splendid theories on the art of bringing up children."
"Have you, indeed?" said she. "I have no theories."
"No theories on the proper way of training little ones?"
"No theories," was the reply. "Just three children."
--Detroit Free Press.
[End excerpt]

The acknowledgement mentioned a couple ADS mailing list denizens.

[Begin excerpt]
Great thanks to Joel Berson and Mark Snegg whose inquiries led QI to
formulate this question and perform this exploration. Joel Berson was
relaying a question that Russ Hunt posed on a mailing list concerned
with 18th-century studies. Special thanks to the librarians at Logue
Library of Chestnut Hill College for help in verifying the 1946
"Parent Education Through Home and School" citation, and special
thanks to Bonnie Taylor-Blake for help in verifying the "The Oil
Weekly" citation. Also, thanks to the other ADS discussants.
[End excerpt]

Garson


On Sun, Apr 19, 2015 at 10:49 AM, 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: [C18-L] Rochester, children, and theories
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Update: While visiting a library I examined a volume of "The Reader's
> Digest" and determined that the quip which has implausibly been
> attributed to Lord Rochester was present in the June 1947 issue in a
> short section called "Quotable Quotes". I still have not yet verified
> the 1946 citations.
>
> [ref] 1947 June, Reader's Digest, Volume 50, Quotable Quotes, Quote
> Page 90, The Reader's Digest Association, Inc. (Verified on
> paper)[/ref]
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> Before I got married I had six theories about bringing up children.
> Now I have six children -- and no theories. --Lord Rochester
> [End excerpt]
>
> Garson
>
>
> On Fri, Apr 10, 2015 at 5:57 AM, ADSGarson O'Toole
> <adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:
>> I found three matches with GB dates in 1946. That was the earliest
>> year I could find in a preliminary search. Two of the matches
>> mentioned "Lord Rochester" and one match mentioned "a veteran in the
>> marriage game". None of these 1946 matches has been verified on paper.
>>
>> There is a blind match in 1947 in "Reader's Digest". The match is in
>> HathiTrust and no text is visible (that is why I am calling it a blind
>> match).
>>
>> I can verify matches starting in 1949.
>>
>> The Dictionary of Humorous Quotations (1949) compiled by Evan Esar
>> included the joke with an ascription to "ROCHESTER, Lord, 1647-1680,
>> English poet." This was the first cite I saw that particularized "Lord
>> Rochester". I do not know if there were any other candidates. Robin
>> pointed to another "John Wilton". Was he addressed as "Lord
>> Rochester"?
>>
>> Nigel Rees included an instance of the quip in "Cassell's Humorous
>> Quotations" with a 1951 citation.
>>
>> Here are selected citations in chronological order. This first
>> citation is a thematic precursor from 1904.
>>
>
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