[Ads-l] "Fog in English Channel: Continent Isolated" (1930, barely)

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Excellent citations, Bonnie and John. The citation below is from
today. I am sharing it to indicate that the expression is still
remembered and considered vital.

Date: February 22, 2016
Website: Boston Globe
Article: The struggle for mastery in Europe
Author: Niall Ferguson

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2016/02/22/the-struggle-for-mastery-europe/H41rFl6Exr3BfNilsXnmbO/story.html

[Begin excerpt]
So all Britons have to choose today is the form of that commitment.
They can declare "fog in the Channel -- continent cut off" by voting
for "Brexit" (short for British exit). But the idea that they can
thereby separate themselves from Europe is an illusion. For the future
of Europe without the UK would be one of escalating instability.
[End excerpt]

Garson


On Sun, Feb 21, 2016 at 2:41 PM, Baker, John <JBAKER at stradley.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Baker, John" <JBAKER at STRADLEY.COM>
> Subject:      Re: "Fog in English Channel: Continent Isolated" (1930, barely)
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Note that the Manchester Evening News did in fact run the headline "Contine=
> nt Cut Off by Cable Fault" on May 21, 1940.  The headline writer probably h=
> ad the existing joke headline in mind.  The article itself is straightforwa=
> rd and not at all jokey; the lead sentence is "Public telephone services be=
> tween England and the Continent have been cut off since 7 p.m. yesterday."
>
>
> John Baker
>
>
>
> Sent from my iPad
>
>> On Feb 20, 2016, at 7:28 AM, Bonnie Taylor-Blake <b.taylorblake at GMAIL.COM=
>> wrote:
>>=20
>> Some time ago we had pushed mentions of this apocryphal headline back
>> to early 1931 (see links below for two earlier posts on this).  For
>> what it's worth, here's a sighting from the very last day of 1930.
>>=20
>> -- Bonnie
>>=20
>> -------------------------------------------------------------
>>=20
>> What gives "The Criterion" unusual value is the inclusion of foreign
>> "chronicles" and reviews of foreign periodicals, represented in the
>> present number by an Italian chronicle and review of periodicals from
>> Russia and Germany.  "The Criterion" thus becomes a good antidote to
>> the attitude which our chief national daily recently expressed so well
>> in a time of Channel fog with its bold English headline, "The
>> Continent Isolated."
>>=20
>> [From G.E.G.'s short piece on T.S. Eliot's "The Criterion," a literary
>> and critical review. The Yorkshire Post, 31 December 1930, Page 4,
>> Column 6.]
>>=20
>> --------------------------------------------------------------
>>=20
>> http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2007-July/072575.html
>>=20
>> http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2010-August/101777.html
>>=20
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>=20
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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