[Ads-l] [Non-DoD Source] Re: Semper Gumby (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Jonathan Lighter]

I don't doubt it.

It evidently didn't spread very far very fast, since HDAS found no trace of
it beyond Newsweek.

JL

On Tue, Apr 19, 2016 at 11:08 AM, Mullins, Bill CIV (US) <
william.d.mullins18.civ at mail.mil> wrote:

> CLASSIFICATION: UNCLASSIFIED
>
> Mebbe so, but the earliest 2 - 3 "legit" uses of the quote I found were
> all 1991, and are more likely related to Desert Storm.  It may have been
> invented earlier, but that's when it spread.
>
> >
> > Can't prove it, but I suspect that "Semper Gumby" owes its existence to
> the
> > 1987-89 revival of the character.
> >
> > JL
> >
> > On Mon, Apr 18, 2016 at 4:28 PM, Mullins, Bill CIV (US) <
> william.d.mullins18.civ at mail.mil> wrote:
> >
> > > >
> > > > "Always flexible."
> > > >
> > > > GB alleges an ex. in a Gumby book in 1986, but no snippet is
> available.
> > > >
> > >
> > > I suspect this is one of those cases where GB is offering a book that
> > > they think is close to what you want, rather than actually fitting the
> search.
> > >
> > > Neither this:
> > >
> > > http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015054131670
> > >
> > > nor this:
> > >
> > > https://books.google.com/books/about/Gumby.html?id=UrN
> > > kAAAAMAAJ
> > >
> > > yield any actual results when searching for "semper".
> > >
> > > Wikipedia has apocryphal credits to 1984, 1977/78, the Viet Nam era,
> > > and any other random date you would wish.
> > >
> CLASSIFICATION: UNCLASSIFIED
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> 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