[Ads-l] Origin of term curate's egg

Wed Aug 1 00:57:18 UTC 2018

LH mentioned the 1905 citation for "curate's egg" in the OED.

Bill Mullins found and shared a Nov 29, 1900 citation for "curate's
egg", and found an earlier match on May 19, 1896 which he could not
verify because he did not have a subscription to
Britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk.

http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2015-January/135775.html

John Baker verified the  May 19, 1896 citation in the "Edinburgh Evening News"

http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2015-January/135776.html

Wikipedia traces the genesis of the expression to a cartoon in "Punch"
on November 9, 1895:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curate%27s_egg

But I have just found a citation dated May 21, 1895 in the
"Huddersfield Chronicle" of Yorkshire, England indicating that the
same joke about a curate served a bad egg at the Bishop's breakfast
table appeared in the humor magazine "Judy" before it appeared in
"Punch".

In addition, a precursor joke about a young religious person served a
bad egg at a bishop's breakfast-table was circulating by 1875.

Garson

On Tue, Jul 31, 2018 at 3:14 PM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu> wrote:
> Gives a whole nother meaning to the curate’s egg…
>
> OED
> _curate's egg_  n. taken as a type of something of mixed character (good and bad). Originating in a story of a meek curate who, having been given a stale egg by his episcopal host, stated that ‘parts of it’ were ‘excellent’ ( Punch 9 Nov. 1895, p. 222).
>
> 1905   Minister's Gazette of Fashion Aug. 141/1   The past spring and summer season has seen much fluctuation. Like the curate's egg, it has been excellent in parts.
> 1962   Oxf. Mag. 22 Nov. 91/1   All the same it is a curate's egg of a book. While the whole may be somewhat stale and addled, it would be unfair not to acknowledge the merits of some of its parts.
>
> Twitter isn’t mentioned by name, but…
>
> LH
>
>> On Jul 31, 2018, at 12:14 PM, Andy Bach <afbach at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
>>
>>> First place I recall this is via the NYC Bike Snob from 2017
>>
>> http://bikesnobnyc.blogspot.com/2010_01_05_archive.html
>>
>> Who points to an NYTimes article about Twitter
>> http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/03/weekinreview/03carr.html
>>
>> On Twitter, anyone may follow anyone, but there is very little expectation
>> of reciprocity. By carefully curating the people you follow, Twitter
>> becomes an always-on data stream from really bright people in their
>> respective fields, whose tweets are often full of links to incredibly
>> vital, timely information.
>>
>>
>> On Mon, Jul 30, 2018 at 10:09 PM, Dennis During <dcduring at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Not every online dictionary has this sense of curate, but Oxford online
>>> has:
>>> "Select, organize, and present (online content, merchandise, information,
>>> etc.), typically using professional or expert knowledge."
>>> *‘nearly every major news organization is using Twitter’s new lists feature
>>> to curate tweets about the earthquake’*
>>>
>>> I don't think "curate" was used much this way ten years ago, but it has
>>> been increasingly so used since.
>>>
>>> See https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/curate#Etymology_2 for 5 examples.
>>>
>>> On Mon, Jul 30, 2018 at 8:17 PM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>>> -----------------------
>>>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>>> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
>>>> Subject:      curate
>>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>>>> -------------------
>>>>
>>>> Nowadays simply =3D select carefully
>>>>
>>>> "Have 1 minute? We've curated this for you: 5 ways to amplify your
>>>> Gal=C3=A1pagos expedition."
>>>>
>>>> I've been hearing "curated" this way in TV commercials for months but
>>> kept
>>>> quiet about it.
>>>>
>>>> ISTR  a selection of "specially curated" cosmetics sent regularly to
>>> one's
>>>> door.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> JL
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> --=20
>>>> "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
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> Dennis C. During
>>>
>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>>
>> a
>>
>> Andy Bach,
>> afbach at gmail.com
>> 608 658-1890 cell
>> 608 261-5738 wk
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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