[Ads-l] "You pays your money...

[Jonathan Lighter]

and you takes your choice." Years ago Barry traced this saying to an
anecdote about a showman and his exhibit of the battle of Waterloo. The
earliest date Barry found for the current wording was 1839, though the
anecdote and the sentiments go back further.

https://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/you_pays_your_money_and_you_takes_your_choice/

Here is an American variant of the anecdote from 1862, without Napoleon or
Wellington:

https://www.loc.gov/resource/ihas.200000841.0/?sp=3

Child.--Mr. Keeper, which am the Lions and which am the Tigers?
Showman.--Walk in my pretty dears, you'se paid your money and you has your
choice."e
JL
-- 
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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