[Ads-l] "Ants on a log" -- Request from a freelance writer

Peter Reitan pjreitan at HOTMAIL.COM
Mon Jul 22 00:14:00 UTC 2019 

If the "ants on a floating log" idiom starts in the early 1900s, it may 
have had a precursor in "ants on a burning log."  The examples I found 
are not a perfect match for the sense, but similarly relate to futile 
efforts of ants on a log; but more about panic in the face of danger, 
and not the illusion of control.

From a letter to the editor of the Northern Ohio Journal (Painesville, 
Ohio), May 3, 1873, page 3:

[Begin Excerpt]
Did you ever see an ant on a log on fire at both ends (the log not the 
ant) and watch its frantic efforts (the ant not the log) to get out of 
the terrible delimma?  Well the position of that little emmit typifies 
faintly the condition of the denizens of this little inland burg, not 
that we're in any immediate danger of scorching; Oh no! so long as "life 
and health and being lasts" we expect to avoid that calamity, whatever 
may betide us thereafter; but the insect aforesaid was cut off by 
inexorable fate from the outer world, and there is just where we can 
sympathize with him.
[End Excerpt]

A widely circulated article from 1879 reflecting back on the 
"Know-nothing" campaign of 1855 suggests something like that was uttered 
at that time. From The Tennessean (Nashville, Tennessee), November 9, 
1879, page 3 (also appeared in several other papers from Vermont to 
California at about the same time).

When Andrew Johnson made the "most crushing and overwhelming" rejoinder 
ever heard in Tennessee . . .

[Begin excerpt]
Men declared that they could see "Know-Nothings crawling out of their 
dens, like ants out of a burning log."
[End Excerpt]

An example from the review of a bad play used the expression in 1882.  
The producer, Lester Wallack, is the target of the barb.  From the 
Courier-Journal (Louisville, Kentucky), December 10, 1882, page 9.

[Begin Excerpt.]
Rose Coghlan has made a hit in the wretched play of "The Queen's 
Shilling," at Wallack's, a play which is probably destined to be 
short-lived.  Lester is like an ant on a burning log, running to all 
sides in search of a fire-escape.
[End Excerpt]

It appeared again in 1912.  The Buffalo Sunday Morning News (Buffalo, 
New York), November 17, 1912, page 46.   "The dogs dropped like dogs off 
a burning log!"

------ Original Message ------
From: "ADSGarson O'Toole" <adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com>
To: ADS-L at listserv.uga.edu
Sent: 7/21/2019 11:29:01 AM
Subject: Re: "Ants on a log" -- Request from a freelance writer

>---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>Poster:       ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
>Subject:      Re: "Ants on a log" -- Request from a freelance writer
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>Great work by Barry whose analysis begins with a 1915 citation.
>
>Here is a partially matching precursor in 1902 based on the same
>metaphorical framework. The domain is political activism. There are a
>group of ants (political activists) on a floating platform. The ants
>have no real control over the movement of the platform. This differs
>from the 1915 citation because the platform is a ship and not a log.
>Also, the illusion of control is not mentioned.
>
>Date: April 8, 1902
>Newspaper: Richmond Dispatch
>Newspaper Location: Richmond, Virginia
>Article: Proceedings of the Constitutional Convention (continuation title)
>Start Page 10, Quote Page 11, Column 2
>Database: Newspapers.com
>Comment: Ellipsis is in the original text
>
>[Begin excerpt]
>This is their platform: "Anti-Roosevelt-Booker Washington dinner... On
>that platform they are huddled like a parcel of ants on a floating
>ship in time of high water. They don't seem to know or care which way
>they are drifting.
>[End excerpt]
>
>Barry's citations jump from 1915 to 1943. Here is a pertinent citation
>in 1922. The same metaphorical framework is used, and the domain is
>political activism. The ants (political activists) are on a floating
>log. The log rolls uncontrollably. Individual ants maintain an
>illusion of control.
>
>Date: January 31, 1922
>Newspaper: The Topeka Daily Capital
>Newspaper Location: Topeka, Kansas
>Article: Kansas Day Crowd Mills Thru Lobby of National Hotel Like
>Militant Ants on Floating Log
>Author: Morse Salisbury (K.S.A.C. Journalism student)
>Quote Page 7, Column 1
>Database: Newspapers.com
>
>Article was clipped by someone else in 2017.
>https://www.newspapers.com/clip/9916336/the_topeka_daily_capital/
>
>[Begin excerpt]
>"The gang here in the lobby of the National on Kansas day always
>reminds me of the story J. E. Hurley, former general manager of the
>Santa Fe related to illustrate his impressions of the first Kansas day
>crowd he saw," said Joe N. Dolley, bank commissioner during the Stubbs
>administration, yesterday morning.
>
>"Hurley sat for some three hours watching the milling crowd. Finally
>he observed to me, "This bunch inspires me to believe that Kansas
>politicians have heeded the advice of Solomon to learn from the ant.
>These fellows look like a bunch of ants I once saw floating down a
>swollen stream on a log. The log rolled over and over, throwing some
>of the ants into the water at each revolution. However, they would
>scramble on top again, and mill around wildly, each a trifle more
>self-important than the other, as if they were telling the world how
>they made that log roll over'."
>[End excerpt]
>
>Garson
>
>On Sun, Jul 21, 2019 at 1:02 PM Cohen, Gerald Leonard <gcohen at mst.edu> wrote:
>>
>>  Dear ads-l members,
>>
>>
>>  I've received the request below concerning "ants on a log" (a type of food
>>
>>  I had never heard of before); the request led to an initial response from
>>
>>  Barry Popik on his invaluable website barrypopik.com
>>
>>  (https://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/ants_on_a_log_floating/
>>
>>  The writer's email to me appears below my signoff.  Can anyone help her
>>
>>  with any additional information?  Her article promises to be an interesting one.
>>
>>
>>  Gerald Cohen
>>
>>  Missouri University of Science & Technology
>>
>>
>>
>>  From: Mara Weinraub <mara.weinraub at gmail.com<mailto:mara.weinraub at gmail.com>>
>>  Sent: Friday, July 19, 2019 3:45 PM
>>  To: Cohen, Gerald Leonard
>>  Subject: Media Inquiry: Ants on a log origin
>>
>>
>>
>>  <snip>
>>
>>
>>
>>  Barry Popik recommended I reach out to you. I'm researching an article
>>
>>  on the origin of the "ants on a log" for an article in Food52.
>>
>>
>>
>>  From my research the "ants on a log" (the snack) first appeared in print
>>
>>  around 1959. But I'm interested in learning about the origin of the phrase
>>
>>   beyond food. I spoke with researcher at Cornell and he said the phrase
>>
>>  seems to have currency in America as a way of describing a group of people
>>
>>  undergoing change while having the illusion of being in control. "I've seen
>>
>>  one article attribute the phrase to Mark Twain, but it seems more likely to
>>
>>  have been a common simile."
>>
>>
>>
>>  If you have any insight or leads, I'd very much appreciate it.
>>
>>
>>
>>  Thank you for your time and consideration,
>>
>>
>>
>>  Mara Weinraub
>>
>>  Freelance Writer
>>
>>  --
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>  ------------------------------------------------------------
>>  The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org


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

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