[Ads-l] "That's all she wrote" (1935-1941)

[Michael Quinion]

> Far below are some slightly earlier instances of "that's all she
> wrote," one left overly long for the sake of context.  Astute readers,
> Texans, and fans of Ernest Tubb will recognize that these all come from
> Texas newspapers.

Your findings are valuable in taking the expression back into the 1930s. 
The story about it being linked to Dear John letters is finally shot down. 
It certainly does look now that it was a Texan folk saying. That's going 
to be tough to investigate further.

I'll update my piece this coming Saturday, with due acknowledgements.

--
Michael Quinion
World Wide Words
Web: http://www.worldwidewords.org

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