[Ads-l] New proverb

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Researcher Barry Popik sent me (and others) an email message pointing
to the valuable work he performed exploring the history of this quip:

“If I could walk on water, you’d say that I can’t swim” (bad press)
https://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/if_i_could_walk_on_water/

Barry found that the humor was applied to President Richard Nixon in
1974, and a precursor was circulating by 1945.

Garson


On Mon, Feb 12, 2018 at 9:49 PM, ADSGarson O'Toole
<adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:
> In 1984 a version of this quip was included in commentary by
> restaurant industry analyst Michael Culp who was critiquing the
> performance of Donald N. Smith, President of Diversifoods.
>
> Date: November 26, 1984
> Publication: Chicago Tribune
> Location: Chicago, Illinois
> Article: Corporate profile: Diversifoods struggles to come up with
> winning recipe
> Author: Herb Greenberg
> Section 3, Page 3
> Database: Newspapers.com
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> "Don's stubbed his toe badly," Michael Culp added. "The sentiment used
> to be that Don walked on water. Now, the sentiment is he doesn't know
> how to swim. It's something in between."
> [End excerpt]
>
> Garson
>
> On Mon, Feb 12, 2018 at 9:14 PM, Barretts Mail <mail.barretts at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Having failed to stop the Civil War and World War II, President Obama, I believe, is responsible for this unfortunate proverb. BB
>>
>>> On 12 Feb 2018, at 18:11, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
>>>
>>> https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/letters/2018/01/24/letter-come-senators-congressmen-show-me-your-fortitude/comments/
>>>
>>>
>>> "He did NOT say NORWEGANS, Some people hate Trump so much if he walked on
>>> water, they would say he didn't know how to swim".
>>>
>>>
>>> Female voter on CNN, just now, asked to react to Trump's lack of expressed
>>> sympathy for abused women:
>>>
>>> "If the President walked on water, the press would say he didn't know how
>>> to swim!"
>>>
>>> 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
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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