[Ads-l] "little green men"; "flying saucer"

Wed Jun 20 17:07:43 UTC 2018

The first Green Man I heard about (other than the Jolly Green Giant,
obviously) was Gawain's big 'n' scary Green Knight.

JL

On Wed, Jun 20, 2018 at 1:04 PM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
wrote:

> DT-related:
>
> 1878 _Inter Ocean_ (Chicago) (Oct. 8) 5: James Traynor stood on the corner
> of the street and howled and apostrophized an imaginary little green man he
> saw leaning against a lamp-post. An officer..., finding he had an awful
> attack of the "horrors," ...put him in a nice, cool cell.
>
> JL
>
> On Wed, Jun 20, 2018 at 7:31 AM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> 1937 Casey Robinson & Maurice Hanline _It's Love I'm After_ (film):  I
>> have little _green_ men jumping around in my head.
>>
>> Olivia de Havilland loq. She has a headache.
>>
>> Stress on "green" is unique in my experience.
>>
>> JL
>>
>> On Fri, Sep 12, 2014 at 8:28 PM, Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>> -----------------------
>>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>> Poster:       Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at GMAIL.COM>
>>>
>>> Subject:      Re: "little green men"; "flying saucer"
>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>>> -------------------
>>>
>>> Leprechauns rather than aliens from outer space?
>>> On Sep 12, 2014 8:07 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:      Re: "little green men"; "flying saucer"
>>> >
>>> > ------------------------------------------------------------
>>> -------------------
>>> >
>>> > Much older than it seemed as a vision of the DTs or insanity:
>>> >
>>> > 1895 _St. Louis Republic_ (Feb. 17) III 18:
>>> > I want my medicine - see? And she won't give it to me. ...Look at the
>>> > little green men on the gas fixtures! See the toads hopping about the
>>> > floor.
>>> >
>>> > JL
>>> >
>>> > On Fri, Oct 21, 2011 at 9:05 PM, Jonathan Lighter <
>>> wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
>>> > wrote:
>>> >
>>> > > Bloch's "LGM" seem more like the hallucinatory sort than the kind
>>> from
>>> > > space.
>>> > >
>>> > > JL
>>> > >
>>> > > On Fri, Oct 21, 2011 at 7:13 PM, George Thompson
>>> > > <george.thompson at nyu.edu> wrote:
>>> > > > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>> > > -----------------------
>>> > > > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>> > > > Poster:       George Thompson <george.thompson at NYU.EDU>
>>> > > > Subject:      Re: "little green men"; "flying saucer"
>>> > > >
>>> > >
>>> > ------------------------------------------------------------
>>> -------------------
>>> > > >
>>> > > > On Wed, Oct 19, 2011 at 10:44 PM, Jonathan Lighter <
>>> > > wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
>>> > > >  wrote:
>>> > > >
>>> > > >> OED has nothing before 1961. Tsk.
>>> > > >>
>>> > > >> GB affords numerous 19th C. British exx. referring to trolls,
>>> elves,
>>> > > >> and the like.  The following U.S. cites show too that it was used
>>> to
>>> > > >> refer to imaginary figures supposedly seen in delirium tremens.
>>> > > >>
>>> > > >> The 1948 is the earliest ex. that refers to denizens of outer
>>> space
>>> > > >> and, by implication, spacemen in saucers. It suggests that still
>>> > > >> earlier exx. may exist in comic books and pulp magazines.
>>> > > >>
>>> > > >>
>>> > > >> 1945 _San Antonio Light_ (Aug. 5) 57 [NewspArch.]: Pink elephants
>>> and
>>> > > >> "little green men" are often seen around by those who hit the
>>> bottle
>>> > > >> too often and too hard.
>>> > > >>
>>> > > >
>>> > > > pink elephant n. *colloq.* a type of something extraordinary or
>>> > > impossible,
>>> > > > *spec.* a characteristic hallucination supposedly experienced by a
>>> > drunk
>>> > > or
>>> > > > delirious person (usu. in *pl.*).
>>> > > >  1900    *Blue Pencil
>>> > > > Mag.<
>>> > > http://ezproxy.library.nyu.edu:32445/view/Entry/144203?rskey
>>> =3Dr8FNOz&=
>>> > > > result=3D1&isAdvanced=3Dtrue>
>>> > > > * Apr. 22/1   She don't stand for this booze business, and I'm
>>> opposed
>>> > > to i=
>>> > > > t
>>> > > > myself. D'ye see them pink elephants running up my pants legs?
>>> > > >  1933    *Official World's Fair Weekly (Chicago)
>>> > > > <
>>> > >
>>> > http://ezproxy.library.nyu.edu:32445/view/Entry/144203?rskey
>>> =3Dr8FNOz&resu=
>>> > > > lt=3D1&isAdvanced=3Dtrue>
>>> > > > *30 Sept. 25/3   Nightmares of the modern school are built around
>>> > =91pink
>>> > > > elephants=92 if we are to believe the song writers.
>>> > > >  1984    M. Amis
>>> > > > *Money<
>>> > > http://ezproxy.library.nyu.edu:32445/view/Entry/144203?rskey
>>> =3Dr8FNO=
>>> > > > z&result=3D1&isAdvanced=3Dtrue>
>>> > > > * (BNC) (1985) 93   Goodney, in his white suit, suntan and sliding
>>> > blond
>>> > > > hair, stood out like a pink elephant.
>>> > > >
>>> > > > "If h had won [on a bet] the sky would have been hung in rose pink
>>> > > ribbons,
>>> > > > canary birds would have been trilling in every bar room, and he
>>> would
>>> > > have
>>> > > > been steadily drunk until that epoch in all continued debauches
>>> when
>>> > pink
>>> > > > elephants begin to sail into the room through the open transom.
>>> > > > National Police Gazette, November 22, 1879, p. 15 (per Proquest)
>>> > > >
>>> > > > GAT
>>> > > >
>>> > > > On Wed, Oct 19, 2011 at 10:44 PM, Jonathan Lighter
>>> > > > <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>wrote:
>>> > > >
>>> > > >> OED has nothing before 1961. Tsk.
>>> > > >>
>>> > > >> GB affords numerous 19th C. British exx. referring to trolls,
>>> elves,
>>> > > >> and the like.  The following U.S. cites show too that it was used
>>> to
>>> > > >> refer to imaginary figures supposedly seen in delirium tremens.
>>> > > >>
>>> > > >> The 1948 is the earliest ex. that refers to denizens of outer
>>> space
>>> > > >> and, by implication, spacemen in saucers. It suggests that still
>>> > > >> earlier exx. may exist in comic books and pulp magazines.
>>> > > >>
>>> > > >>
>>> > > >> 1945 _San Antonio Light_ (Aug. 5) 57 [NewspArch.]: Pink elephants
>>> and
>>> > > >> "little green men" are often seen around by those who hit the
>>> bottle
>>> > > >> too often and too hard.
>>> > > >>
>>> > > >> --
>>> > > > George A. Thompson
>>> > > > Author of A Documentary History of "The African Theatre",
>>> Northwestern
>>> > > Univ=
>>> > > > .
>>> > > > Pr., 1998, but nothing much since then.
>>> > > >
>>> > > > ------------------------------------------------------------
>>> > > > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>> > > >
>>> > >
>>> > >
>>> > >
>>> > > --
>>> > > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
>>> > truth."
>>> > >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > --
>>> > "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
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
>> truth."
>>
>
>
>
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>

-- 
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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