[Ads-l] It isn't about the money

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Excellent topic and citations, JL. Great citation, Fred. Following
this lead I found that Kin Hubbard published the quip in his
syndicated column "Abe Martin" in 1916.

Date: November 24, 1916
Newspaper: Franklin Evening News
Newspaper Location: Franklin, Pennsylvania
Article: Abe Martin
Syndicate: National Newspaper Service
Quote Page 4, Column 4
Database: Newspapers.com

https://www.newspapers.com/clip/55235678/haintthmoney/

[Begin excerpt]
When a feller says: "It hain't th' money, but th' principle o' th'
thing," it's th' money.
[End excerpt]

In 1999 Dale Bumpers, former Arkansas senator, attributed the saying
to H.L. Mencken, but I have not yet found any support for that
attribution.

[ref] Website: CNN, Article title: Transcript: Former Sen. Dale
Bumpers, Date on website: January 21, 1999, Website description: World
news website for cable television channel. (Accessed cnn.com on July
12, 2020) link [/ref]

https://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/stories/1999/01/21/transcripts/bumpers.html

[Begin excerpt]
It was a breach of his family trust It is a sex scandal. H.L. Mencken
said one time, "When you hear somebody say, 'This is not about money,'
it's about money."
(LAUGHTER)
And when you hear somebody say, "This is not about sex," it's about sex.
[End excerpt]

Garson O'Toole
QuoteInvestigator.com

On Sun, Jul 12, 2020 at 1:19 PM Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu> wrote:
>
> The Yale Book of Quotations has the following similar quotation:
>
> When a fellow says, "It hain't the money, but th' principle of the thing," it's th' money.
> Frank McKinney "Kin" Hubbard, Hoss Sense and Nonsense (1926)
>
> Fred Shapiro
>
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Sent: Saturday, July 11, 2020 4:40 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Subject: It isn't about the money
>
> At some point last year, I jotted this down from Deadline: White House
> (MSNBC):
>
> "There's an old Hollywood adage: 'When they say it's not about the money,
> it's about the money.'"
>
> 1996 San Francisco Examiner (Feb. 25) 28: "But to borrow the oft-repeated
> remark of New York Giants executive George Young, "When they say it isn't
> about money, it's always about money."
>
> 1999 Indiana [Pa.] Gazette (Feb. 19) 13: With labor contract issues
> constantly in the news, Willie, our ex-shoeshine boy, says the old line is
> still true: "When someone tells you it isn't about money...it's about
> money."
>
> JL
>
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
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