[Ads-l] Tough luck!

[Mark Mandel]

Why do you single out the 1874 quotation as sarcastic? ISTM that all of
them have the same meaning as today: It's a bad outcome/fact/state of
affairs, but that's the way it turned out.

Mark Mandel

On Thu, Mar 26, 2020 at 4:20 PM Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
wrote:

> OED: 1912
>
> Note that 1874 is sarcastic. which seems to me to be the more common
> nuance. (Cf. "Tough!")
>
> 1871  _Chicago Tribune_ (March 12) 3:  The latter's small score was the
> aggregation of several 2 and 3 runs, combined with tough luck in the way of
> leaves, kisses, and close misses.
>
> 1873 New Hampshire Sentinel (Keene, New Hampshire) (Aug. 21)  1:  Uncle
> Simon was surprised to see the bottom of the meal chest. "Tough luck!" said
> he briefly, "but there's swamp pork to eke it out."
>
> 1874 _Daily Constitution_ (Middletown, Conn.) (June 29) 2: The young man is
> banished to the Caucassus [sic] for life [for handing stolen diamonds over
> to his paramour] and has been deprived of the Cross of St. George which he
> had just won distinguished service in the Khivan campaign. Tough luck!
>
> Newspaper exx. explode at this point, suggesting that the phrase had been
> around for some time.
>
> The "1832" at Google Books is bogus.
>
> JL
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

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