[Ads-l] down to a dull roar

[Wilson Gray]

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

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