[Ads-l] Bootstrap antedating

[Stephen Goranson]

"Had this man made, and applied the experiment of attempting to raise himself into the air by pulling at his boot-straps, he would have saved himself the expense of building such a boat."
Youth's Book of Natural Philosophy, J. L. Comstock (Hartford 1838, c1834) 45.
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.hn5wzr&view=1up&seq=47

S. Goranson


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From: American Dialect Society <...> on behalf of Dave Wilton <...>
Sent: Tuesday, July 9, 2019 10:13 AM
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Subject: [ADS-L] Bootstrap antedating

The OED has 1891 for the noun and 1922 for the phrase "lift oneself by one's bootstrap." It's much older.

“The National Observer.” New York Daily Tribune, 4 February 1861, 4.

The legislation would be as hopeless as the attempt of a man to lift himself by his boot-straps.

“The Keeley Motor. Alleged Powers of the Machine.” New York Tribune, 17 July 1875, 9.

You might as well tell me that you have a combination of levers by which you can lift yourself over The Tribune tower in New-York by your boot-straps. What you say is absurd.

“Has Business Revived: Some Unpalatable Truths About the Situation.” Daily American, 1 November 1977, 2.

It is possible for business to grow, slowly but steadily. It is not possible for business to lift itself by its own boot-straps.

“No Up: The Impossibility of Benting Voorlies—A Valuable Cincinnati…Entirely Lost.” Louisville Courier-Journal, 15 Oct 1878. 2

The second point of difficulty is of a much more serious character, and it is about the same that beset the man who attempted to lift himself by his boot-strap.”

“The Gods: A Lecture on the Subject by Col R. G. Ingersoll.” Detroit Free Press, 4 Feb 1880, 8.

It was very like attempting to lift one’s self by the boot-straps, a hopeless undertaking, but very good exercise.

Editorial. Louisville Courier-Journal, 3 Aug 1884, 12.

It is like a man lifting himself with his bootstraps. There is a lack of purchase or leverage.

“Commercial Union. Goldwin Smith Urges Manitoba to Join the Ranks.” New York Times, 30 May 1888, 2.

Others may be persuaded that it can “lift itself by its own bootstraps,” but as Manitoba has no bootstraps it cannot share that fancy.

Ben Zimmer previously posting the following to this list, which I repeat here:
 
Editorial of the Day: The Bootstrapper. Chicago Daily Tribune, 19 Oct 1927, 10.

Now everyone has heard of the American bootlegger. But the bootstrapper is an even greater national figure, just as the feat of “lifting oneself by one’s bootstraps” is an almost entirely American accomplishment.

[…]

This is all right so long as there is plenty of room for the first rate
man who has no capacity for bootstrapping and so long as there is no
sudden crisis.






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