[Ads-l] Tough luck!

[Jonathan Lighter]

The post escaped as I was changing the final word from "ironic" to
"sarcastic."

JL

On Sat, Mar 28, 2020 at 8:16 AM Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
wrote:

> I suppose if one is an American Victorian truly sympathetic to a recently
> decorated Russian prince who stole a fortune in diamonds to give to his
> girlfriend and wound up in internal exile because of it, it might not be
> ironic.
>
> JL
>
> On Fri, Mar 27, 2020 at 6:08 PM Mark Mandel <markamandel at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> 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
>> >
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
>
>
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>


-- 
"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