[Ads-l] Quote: Go to other people's berrin's that they may come to yours. (1895)

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Wonderful, Stephen. I updated the entry with the new citation.  The
conclusion was modified and an acknowledgement was added:

[Begin except]
Thanks to magnificent researcher Stephen Goranson who located the
above citation.
[End excerpt]

Garson


On Mon, Sep 28, 2015 at 7:06 AM, Stephen Goranson <goranson at duke.edu> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Stephen Goranson <goranson at DUKE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: Quote: Go to other people's berrin's that they may come to
>               yours. (1895)
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> "Confound it!" John would say, "if I don't attend other people's funerals t=
> hey won't come to mine."
>
> The Youth of the Period, James F. S. Kennedy (London, 1876) p. 232.=20
>
> https://books.google.com/books?id=3DMiICAAAAQAAJ&pg=3DPA232&dq=3Dto+other+p=
> eoples+funerals&hl=3Den&sa=3DX&ved=3D0CB8Q6AEwAGoVChMIvMzYqcmZyAIVR8-ACh2sn=
> g6n#v=3Donepage&q=3Dto%20other%20peoples%20funerals&f=3Dfalse
>
> Stephen Goranson
> http://people.duke.edu/~goranson/
>
>
> ________________________________________
> From: American Dialect Society <...> on behalf of ADSGarson O'Toole <...>
> Sent: Monday, September 28, 2015 6:09 AM
> To:...
> Subject: [ADS-L] Quote: Go to other people's berrin's that they may come to=
>  yours. (1895)
>
> A comical remark about funeral attendance has been attributed to the
> baseball great Yogi Berra:
>
> Always go to other people=92s funerals; otherwise they won=92t go to yours.
>
> Fred and Ralph Keyes have valuable citations for the popular author
> Clarence S. Day. A few days ago Barry Popik found some excellent
> antedatings for this joke in 1907 and 1911. Now I've found some
> citations in 1895 and 1898, and I've created an entry on the topic:
>
> http://quoteinvestigator.com/2015/09/27/funeral/
>
> The earliest evidence I've located appeared in a short story published
> in a London journal called "The Leisure Hour" in 1895. The tale used
> nonstandard spelling to represent dialect, e.g., berrin', burial; ess,
> yes; cauld, cold; het, hot; motty, motto; knaw, know; and manen,
> meaning. In the following passage a character named Mrs. Polsue began
> by stating that she had not missed a burial in twenty years.
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> "Ess, o' course. I haven' missed a berrin' in this town for twenty
> year--summer or winter, cauld or het, dry or wet--and there edn' many
> can say the same. 'Do unto others as you would that they sh'd do to
> you,'--that's my motty; and I turn et this way, 'Go to other people's
> berrin's that they may come to yours.'"
>
> "Eh--'twould be a wisht berrin' that!" chuckled Mrs. Tonkin.
>
> "You d' knaw my manen, Ann," said Mrs. Polsue placidly.
> [End excerpt]
>
> Feedback welcome,
> Garson
>
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