[Ads-l] Antedating (?) BYOB and BYOL and BYOS

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Mark Mandel wrote:
> As additional evidence, I take the expression "show them the way to go
> home" as an allusion to the song that begins:
> >>>>>
> Show me the way to go home.
> I'm tired and I want to go to bed.
> I had a little drink about an hour ago
> And it went right to my head.

Thanks for your response, Mark. The 1902 citation below indicates that
the phrase “Show me the way to go home” does occur as a refrain in a
drinking song. Although the song below seems to differ from the one
you suggested.

The famous temperance campaigner Carrie Nation visited the Yale
campus, but she was heckled by students who interrupted her discourse
by singing drinking songs.

Date: October 1, 1902
Newspaper: The Evening Standard
Newspaper Location: Leavenworth, Kansas
Article: Mrs. Nation Jeered by Yale Students
Quote Page 1, Column 1
Database: Newspapers.com

[Begin excerpt]
"I'm amazed at the sentiment of such
songs; really in all my life"----

Give us a drink, bartender,
For we love it, as you know----
And surely you will oblige us.
With a little drop or so.

"The saloon," shouted Mrs. Nation,
"has been after those singers. It'll get
'em if they don't answer out."

But the answer was:
Show me the way to go home, Carrie,
Show me the way to go home,
For I've been drunk for the last six months,
Show me the way to go home.

"You're on the road to ----," screamed Mrs. Nation.
[End excerpt]

Garson




>
> There's plenty of discussion of this song on the Mudcat Café website
> (dedicated to discussion of filk and popular music). See among others
> https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=9395#60669
>
> In that thread, the comment at
> https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=9395#342162
> provides some dates, though without citations:
> >>>>>
> Show me the way to go home has a lot of history and it is associated to
> songs that were published in 1823 and in 1867 although it wasn't written
> until 1926.
> <<<<<
>
> That's after the 1918 date of the quote below, but evidently the idea was
> around. Further search, hopefully just in that thread, might reveal the
> detail of those earlier associated songs.
>
> Mark Mandel
>
> On Fri, Dec 21, 2018, 10:11 AM ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com
> wrote:
>
> > ...
> > B. Y. O. L. has not been printed on
> > the invitations to go to Mobile, but
> > it is highly probable that some of the
> > Pensacola Rotarlans have some friends
> > in the Gulf City who are expecting to
> > * show them the way to go home.*
> > ...
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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