[Ads-l] "Later."

[Jonathan Lighter]

I had a college friend in 1971 who said "Plant you now, and dig you later!"
so frequently that she wound up abbreviating it to "Plant you now!"

To which any reply, if needed, was "Dig you later!"

And of course there was also "See you later, alligator!" With the reply,
"In a while, crocodile!"

Also in the early '70s, the same friend varied that with the most apropos
"On the Nile  (crocodile)!"

JL

On Wed, Feb 1, 2017 at 11:16 PM, Peter Reitan <pjreitan at hotmail.com> wrote:

> 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."
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      "Later."
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> -------------------
>
> "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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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



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