[Ads-l] the gift that keeps on giving

[Wilson Gray]

> ca 1976

Uh, I had in mind ca. 1946. Isn't there anyone on this list old enough to
vote?! 😳

On Tue, Dec 12, 2017 at 8:37 PM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
wrote:

> > when I gear "the gift...," I think, specifically, "genital herpes."
>
> I think that was the original extended context for me too, ca 1976.
>
> JL
>
> On Tue, Dec 12, 2017 at 8:10 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > > I must mean "STDs"!
> >
> > Once upon a time, "social disease," preferred both by my mother and by
> her
> > mother, was more P.C. than "venereal disease." But "VD" was commonly
> used,
> > whereas I don't recall a single instance of "SD." FWIW, when I gear "the
> > gift...," I think, specifically, "genital herpes."
> >
> > On Mon, Dec 11, 2017 at 11:12 AM, Jonathan Lighter <
> wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com
> > >
> > wrote:
> >
> > > Earliest?:
> > >
> > > 1924 _Seattle Daily Times_ (Dec. 10) 4: The Christmas gift that keeps
> on
> > > giving through every month of the year.  A VICTROLA.
> > >
> > > 1924 _Trenton Evening Times_ (Dec. 18) 2: The gift that keeps on giving
> > is
> > > the best gift of all. The Christmas Victrola will give you
> entertainment
> > > for every day in the year!
> > >
> > > 1924 _Times-Picayune_ (N.O.) (Dec. 17) 12: "The Gift That Keeps on
> > Giving"
> > > [Victrolas are illustrated.]
> > >
> > >
> > > By the 1970s, the cliche' had become a sardonic descriptor of chronic
> > > venereal disease. (Oops! I must mean "STDs"! "Venereal" involves
> love!).
> > >
> > > JL
> > >
> > > --
> > > "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
> > >
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > -Wilson
> > -----
> > All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint to
> > come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
> > -Mark Twain
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > 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
>



-- 
-Wilson
-----
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-Mark Twain

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