[Ads-l] Quote: Politicians, like diapers, should be changed regularly (UNCLASSIFIED)

Tue May 14 21:28:58 UTC 2019

Thanks Peter, Bill, and Barry. Courtesy of YouTube, I've now seen the
line spoken in the film, and will update the QI entry.

The line represents the philosophy of Duke Hudkins (John Wayne), but
the words are actually spoken by his friend Waco (Charles Winninger).

IMDB entry for "A Lady Takes a Chance" says Robert Ardrey
(screenplay), Jo Swerling (story)

[ref] YouTube video,
Title: A Lady Takes a Chance 1943 HD Starring Jean Arthur, John Wayne
(Comedy Romance Western),
Uploaded on Oct 8, 2018,
Uploaded by: VIEW LOO,
Time: Quotation starts at 1 hour 8 minutes of 1 hour 25 minutes,
Details: Quotation is spoken by character Waco (Charles Winninger) who
is conversing with Duke Hudkins (John Wayne),
(Accessed on youtube.com on May 14, 2019) [/ref]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_V4rpYwnZD4

[Begin excerpt]
Waco (Charles Winninger): "Remember what you told me 'Women is like
socks. You've gotta change 'em regular.'"
[End excerpt]

Garson

On Tue, May 14, 2019 at 4:34 PM Peter Reitan <pjreitan at hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> Wikipedia says A Lady Takes a Chance was released on September 15 1943.
>
> A search for "Thesaurus of Epigrams" on Newspapers.com suggests it was released on November 29 1943.
>
> https://www.newspapers.com/clip/31567204/hartford_courant/
>
> Get Outlook for Android<https://aka.ms/ghei36>
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> ________________________________
> From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
> Sent: Tuesday, May 14, 2019 1:19:12 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: Quote: Politicians, like diapers, should be changed regularly (UNCLASSIFIED)
>
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Quote: Politicians, like diapers, should be changed regularly
>               (UNCLASSIFIED)
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Thanks for your response. Bill. Barry states that an instance of the
> socks/women saying occurred in the 1943 John Wayne film "A Lady Takes
> a Chance". (I have not seen the movie.) That is probably the source of
> the citation you present.
>
> [Begin excerpt from Barry Popik's entry]
> =E2=80=9CSocks=E2=80=9D is an early form of the saying and is sometimes use=
> d instead
> of =E2=80=9Cdiapers.=E2=80=9D =E2=80=9CWomen is like socks...you gotta chan=
> ge =E2=80=98em regular=E2=80=9D
> from the movie A Lady Takes a Chance (1943) perhaps influenced this
> version.
> [End excerpt]
>
> I listed the 1943 book "Thesaurus of Epigrams" by Edmund Fuller. The
> chronology is uncertain (to me) because the precise publication date
> of the book is not listed. It is possible that Fuller grabbed the
> saying from the film. Alternatively, the saying was already in
> circulation. Books and films both have long gestations.
>
> Garson
>
> On Tue, May 14, 2019 at 3:08 PM MULLINS, WILLIAM D (Bill) CIV USARMY
> CCDC AVMC (USA) <0000099bab68be9a-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu>
> wrote:
> >
> > CLASSIFICATION: UNCLASSIFIED
> >
> >
> > _Columbus [OH] Dispatch_ 23 Oct 1943 p 6 col 2
> >
> > "[John] Wayne plays a cowboy whose theory is that women, like socks, shou=
> ld be changed often."
> >
> > > ----
> > >
> > > Historian Ron Chernow addressed the White House Correspondents Associat=
> ion dinner back on Saturday April 29, 2019, and he referred to
> > > the saying in the subject line.
> > >
> > > Barry Popik and I have entries about this quip on our websites (and I s=
> tarted a mailing-list thread on the topic back in 2018). The words are
> > > often incorrectly ascribed to Mark Twain.
> > >
> > > Now the website entries have been updated with newly discovered illumin=
> ating citations.
> > >
> > > Politicians Are Like Diapers. They Should Be Changed Regularly https://=
> quoteinvestigator.com/2018/10/17/diaper/
> > >
> > > =E2=80=9CPoliticians and diapers should both be changed regularly, and =
> for the same reason=E2=80=9D
> > > http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/politicians_and=
> _diapers_should_both_be_changed_regularly_and_for_the_sa
> > > me_r
> > >
> > > An interesting precursor in 1952 used "socks" instead of "diapers".
> > >
> > > [ref]1952 September 10, Boston Traveler, (Letter to the editor from Joh=
> n Q. of Roslindale), Letter title: No Re-Elections, Quote Page 26,
> > > Column 5, Boston, Massachusetts. (GenealogyBank) [/ref]
> > >
> > > [Begin excerpt]
> > > If a politician needs to hold office but six years to get a pension let=
> 's all go to the polls and see that he doesn=E2=80=99t hold office that lon=
> g. Office
> > > holders, like socks, should be changed often and for very much the same=
>  reason.
> > > [End excerpt]
> > >
> > > Garson
> > >
> > > On Wed, Oct 17, 2018 at 8:38 PM Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu> =
> wrote:
> > CLASSIFICATION: UNCLASSIFIED
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
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>
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