[Ads-l] Miscellany (UNCLASSIFIED)

[MULLINS, WILLIAM D (Bill) CIV USARMY RDECOM AMRDEC (USA)]

CLASSIFICATION: UNCLASSIFIED

_Variety_ 14 Oct 1911 p 20 col 4
"She is a principal, one of the three females in the lead, and the only one who doesn't try to make her voice break through the roof."

_Variety_  4 Mar 1921 p 8 col 1
"Miss Barry has be reviewed in this department so often it need only be added that she never misses and she has a sense of humor all her own  and more material that answers this description than most vaudevillians.  She kicked it through the roof Monday afternoon for a walloping wow."

_Variety_ 18 March 1921 p 16 col 2
"They sat down and knocked 'Home Again Blues' through the roof, both reaching marvelous climaxes in this number."

 
> ----
> 
> The Oxford English Dictionary has information about the phrase “through the roof” with a first citation in 1946.
> 
> roof, n.
> 
> [Begin excerpt]
> P5. colloq. through the roof.
>  a. Esp. of bids, prices, sales, etc.: beyond the expected limit, to extreme heights. Chiefly to go through the roof .
> 1946   E. Hodgins Mr. Blandings builds his Dream House viii. 118   The
> Knapp sales curves were going through the roof.
> 1972   Times 24 Oct. 10/3   Only a few special treasures were bid
> through the roof.
> 1973   Times 30 Oct. 19/6   On lots that were rare and undamaged they
> [sc. prices] went through the roof.
> [End excerpt]
> 
> Here is an instance of the metaphorical phrase “went through the roof”
> in the domain of commodity prices in 1925.
> 
> Date: May 7, 1925
> Newspaper: The Akron Beacon Journal
> Newspaper Location: Akron, Ohio
> Article: Crude Rubber Strikes Peak Price in Years Quote Page 1, Column 6
> Database: Newspapers.com
> 
> [Begin excerpt]
> CRUDE RUBBER STRIKES PEAK PRICE IN YEARS Crude rubber prices went through the roof Thursday morning and as they gave signs of
> continuing to advance, the market suddenly became completely demoralized, according to White-Seiberling Co., Akron crude rubber
> brokers.
> [End excerpt]
> 
> Why was this metaphor selected? In the price domain I have heard phrases such as “price ceiling” and “price cap”. If the phrase “price
> ceiling” was established initially then one might talk about “going through the price ceiling” or more emphatically “going through the price
> roof” or a “price going through the roof”.
> 
> Yet, I do not know when or why the phrase “price ceiling” entered circulation. Perhaps a graph plot of a constrained price was reminiscent
> of a ceiling.
> 
> 
CLASSIFICATION: UNCLASSIFIED

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