[Ads-l] "Later."

[Peter Reitan]

I had a travel pillow in the late 60s that had the expression "plant you now and dig you later" printed all over it.  I had never heard it before and haven't heard it anywhere since.

________________________________
From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
Sent: Wednesday, February 1, 2017 7:53:24 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: "Later."

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Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      "Later."
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"See you later, sweet potater"

Many Google hits.

"Like the farmer said to the potater, 'Plant you now and dig you later.'"

Many Google hits, but new to me.

"See you later, sweet potater
"Plant you now and dig you later."

No results found for "See you later, sweet potater. Plant you now and dig
you later." in Google, but common in StL, in the post-war years.

Slang & sociability: in-group language among college students
https://books.google.com/books?id=3DoKJiAAAAMAAJ
Connie C. Eble - 1996 - =E2=80=8ESnippet view - =E2=80=8EMore editions
It's been real comments positively on the time spent together. _The
frequently used later is a shortening of something like see you later; it
gives rise to latro and to the humorous rhyming expansion later, tater_.

No. _Later, tater_ is almost as old as "See you later, sweet potater," of
which it's clearly a clip.

"Later. Much later. Later for the hoppenings [sic]."

Sign-off of StL's first black DJ, from ca. 1947, perhaps the inspiration
for Ella Fitzgerald's ca. 1953 "Later for the Happenings, Baby." Or not.

--=20
-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

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