[Ads-l] Groucho--really?

[George Thompson]

 In one of the 1940s New Yorker essays by A. J. Leibling, collected in the
book The Wayward Pressman, Leibling notes that the publishers of the
Chicago Tribune (Medill) and the publisher of the [New York] Daily News
(name forgotten: Patterson or McCormick, I think) were cousins, but in a
bitter feud.  The Tribune always spelled Photograph as Photograf, while the
News spelled it Fotograph -- the basis of the feud, Leibling thought.

GAT

On Mon, Mar 13, 2017 at 11:44 AM, Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at gmail.com> wrote:

> "Philosofy" was one of the "simplified spellings" that often appeared in
> the Chicago Tribune from the '30s to the '70s (the Tribune's editor and
> owner Joseph Medill was active in the spelling reform movement). See Erin
> McKean's 2011 piece in the Washington Post:
>
> https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/after-the-
> spelling-bee-imagining-a-
> world-without-standardized-spelling/2011/06/02/AGJkF5HH_story.html
>
> Similarly, the Trib spelled "photograph" as "photograf." I don't know why
> they didn't go whole hog and use "filosofy" and "fotograf."
>
>
> On Mon, Mar 13, 2017 at 1:48 AM, ADSGarson O'Toole <
> adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > Excellent citation, Tom. The Groucho book edited by Robert S. Bader
> > states that the text appeared in a piece that Groucho wrote when he
> > was a guest columnist for Fred Rayfield on August 28, 1951 in the
> > "Daily Compass", a periodical based in New York with managing editor
> > Tom O'Connor.
> >
> > However, it looks like some material in the column was recycled. Here
> > is a relevant earlier citation in the "Chicago Sunday Tribune".
> >
> > The spelling "philosofy" is in the original text.
> >
> > Date: July 8, 1951
> > Newspaper: Chicago Sunday Tribune (Chicago Daily Tribune)
> > Newspaper Location: Chicago, Illinois
> > Article: Groucho Finds Happy Medium in Television
> > Part 3, Quote Page 8, Column 7
> > Database: Newspapers.com
> >
> > [Begin excerpt - double-check for typos]
> > Groucho also was quite happy with Hannus von Yannuh, a 102 year old
> > Norwegian, who became the subject of sermons, editorials and backyard
> > chatter all over the country because of his philosofy: "Every morning
> > when I get out of bed I have two choices: To be happy or unhappy. I
> > always choose to be happy."
> >
> > Groucho has adopted that philosofy himself.
> > [End excerpt]
> >
> > I also found some earlier citations that mentioned Yannuh and his
> > philosophy, but did not say that Groucho had adopted the philosophy.
> >
> > Garson
> >
> >
> > On Mon, Mar 13, 2017 at 1:54 AM, Peter Morris
> > <peter_morris_1 at blueyonder.co.uk> wrote:
> > > Similar words were spoken by a contestant on  "You Bet Your Life" and
> > > noted by Groucho as one of his favourites.
> > >
> > > http://tinyurl.com/zohzg3f
> > >
> > > "Every morning when I get out of bed I have two choices: to be happy
> > > or to be unhappy. I always choose to be happy"
> > > - Hannus Von Yannah, conmtestant
> > >
> > >
> >
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



-- 
George A. Thompson
The Guy Who Still Looks Stuff Up in Books.
Author of A Documentary History of "The African Theatre", Northwestern
Univ. Pr., 1998.

But when aroused at the Trump of Doom / Ye shall start, bold kings, from
your lowly tomb. . .
L. H. Sigourney, "Burial of Mazeen", Poems.  Boston, 1827, p. 112

The Trump of Doom -- affectionately (of course) known as The Dunghill
Toadstool.
(Here's a picture of one.)
http://www.parliament.uk/worksofart/artwork/james-gillray/an-excrescence---a-fungus-alias-a-toadstool-upon-a-dunghill/3851

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