[Ads-l] "Save a horse, ride a cowboy:

[Arnold M. Zwicky]

I wrote:

> on my blog, a discussion that gets the quotation back only to a song released in 2004:
> 
> https://arnoldzwicky.org/2017/03/20/save-a-horse-ride-a-cowboy/
> 
> anyone have further knowledge?

and got the very useful reply:

> On Mar 20, 2017, at 12:54 PM, Peter Reitan <pjreitan at HOTMAIL.COM> wrote:
> 
> One year earlier, different singer:
> 
> "With roots in Manitoba and Rapid City, S. D., Bonar - pronounced like "honor" - exudes the bright-eyed charm of a small-town girl, but with hints of big-city cynicism.  On the CD's [(The Size of Plantets)] opening track, "Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy," she half-heardedly dreams of a home on the range with horses and 12 kids.
> The Star Tribune (Minneapolis), April 25, 2003, page E4 (Newspapers.com).
> 
> It is not the same as Big and Rich's "Hick Hop" rap of the same name.

not at all the same.  and the Bonar song has "save a horse..." only in the title, suggesting that it was in fact a familiar saying.

arnold

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