[Ads-l] irwin Cory 1960 repo convention

Tue Aug 23 19:27:40 UTC 2016

The comedian Professor Irwin Corey introduced into popular culture a
statement about a gun as a tool for efficacious persuasion:

[Begin excerpt]
My philosophy is you can get more with a kind word and a gun than with
just a kind word.
[End excerpt]

He employed the line above by 1953, and by 1969 he was comically
ascribing the saying to the famous gangster Al Capone. Nowadays,
Corey's manufactured ascription is often presented as fact.

http://quoteinvestigator.com/2013/11/03/kind-gun/

Fred Shapiro noted the connection of the statement to Capone and Corey
in The Yale Book of Quotations. Barry Popik kindly relayed the 1953
citation to me.

Garson

On Tue, Aug 23, 2016 at 1:08 PM, paul johnson <paulzjoh at mtnhome.com> wrote:
> Cory was performing at a nite club (Mr Kelly's I think) during the
> convention, at that time Bughouse Square was still active as a debate forum
> In showed up one evening and proceeded somewhat like this.
>
> "Mr Speaker, fellow delegates, our listening audience here in this
> magnificent hall and all Americans listening at home.  The Commonwealth of
> Virginia, the mother of 8 presidents , the oldest state of the original 14
> colonies, the home of Patrick Henry, the capitol of the confederate states
> of America  The Old Dominion, the home of Robert E Lee, the builder of
> Battleships with 22 electoral votes,...yields!"
>
>
> I'm not doing him justice, it was a brilliant performance totally ad lib and
> done on a street corner!
>
>
> On 8/23/2016 9:09 AM, Baker, John wrote:
>>
>> Professor Irwin Corey was born in 1914 and is 102.  That's what Wilson
>> meant to say, I'm sure.
>>
>>
>> John Baker
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf
>> Of Wilson Gray
>> Sent: Tuesday, August 23, 2016 1:09 AM
>> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>> Subject: Punning band-name + anecdote
>>
>> Trivia: Wilson died in 1998 at the age of 64, but Corey is still alive,
>> today, at the age of 114.
>>
>
> --
> If God wanted us to vote, he would have given us candidates.
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org