[Ads-l] folk aphorism?

[Wilson Gray]

A black DJ in L.A.used  as one of s many catch-phrases,

"[...] is like sex: when it's good, it's wonderful; when it's bad, it's
*still* good!"

On Sat, Nov 30, 2019 at 8:37 PM Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>
wrote:

> Not being a quotehound (or even a quotekitty), I tracked down exactly one
> instance on the web, which appears to be from the same source (although
> it's not credited):
> https://archive.org/details/WRAL_20161117_120000_Today/start/2100/end/2160
>
> I did find this quote, credited to Victoria Holt, which involves the same
> excluded middle but goes somewhere else with it:
> *"You should never regret anything in life. If it's good, it's wonderful.
> If it's bad, it's experience"*
> And either way you can wash it down with rye.
> LH
>
> On Fri, Nov 29, 2019 at 10:49 AM Arnold M. Zwicky <zwicky at stanford.edu>
> wrote:
>
> > A query for the quote hounds, from S1 E11 "The Favor" (11/15/58) of the
> tv
> > Western _Wanted Dead or Alive_. The  show's hero, bounty hunter Josh
> > Randall (played by Steve McQueen), enters a saloon in an outlaw town and
> > asks the barman what he's serving. Barman says it's rye, Randall asks for
> > some, barman asks if he wants water with it. Randall demurs, saying:
> >   If it's bad, water won't help. If it's good, it won't need it.
> >
> > That has the sound of a quotation familiar to the character -- or, more
> > likely, a variation on such a quotation. It could just have been invented
> > by the scriptwriters to suit the nature of the character, as a fictive
> > piece of homespun practical wisdom. Or it could be some version of an
> > actual vernacular (perhaps regional) aphorism; it sounds like something
> my
> > Kentucky connections would say (of bourbon), though I don't recall having
> > heard it there.
> >
> > Anyone have any leads on it?
> >
> > Arnold
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>


-- 
-Wilson
-----
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-Mark Twain

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