[Ads-l] RES: down to a dull roar

[David Daniel]

My parents (born in Indiana 1919 and 1920 and raised there), especially my
mother, said "Let's keep it down to a dull roar" regularly in the 50's and
beyond. Must have been some sort of meme of the age - from a radio show
maybe? I almost certainly used to say it too, but am quite sure I haven't
for at least a few decades now.
DAD

Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Re: down to a dull roar
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My high-school Latin teacher used the expression, "Let's keep it down to a
dull roar." This was 1950-52. We had the same teacher for two years, the guy
from Omaha who complained that St. Louisans had a strange accent, saying,
e.g. "Far-est Pork" instead of "Fore-est Park.".

On Mon, Oct 30, 2017 at 5:55 PM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
wrote:

> I think I first noticed this cliche' in the late '60s.
>
> Almost literal:
>
> 1959 _Cleveland Plain Dealer_ (Sept. 9) 16: Three others - Pan 
> American, BOAC, and Aerolineas Argentinas - have been officially 
> complimented for keeping noise down to a dull roar.
>
> Figurative:
>
> 1961 _Times-Picayune_ (N.O.) (June 9) 33: "Life will never be the same 
> again," [Cmdr. Alan B. Shepard,Jr.] said. "I imagine one day that 
> things will die down to a dull roar.
>
> 2017 _The Young & the Restless_ (CBS-TV) (Oct. 30): Let's keep it down 
> to a dull roar.
>
> 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

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