[Ads-l] Adage: Beauty=?UTF-8?Q?=E2=80=99s_?=only skin deep, but ugliness goes to the bone

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Dorothy Parker sometimes has been given credit for the remark "Beauty
is only skin deep, but ugly goes clean to the bone". An interaction on
twitter inspired me to investigate this saying, and the results are
available here:

https://quoteinvestigator.com/2020/09/25/skin-deep/

In 1829 a newspaper in Exeter, England printed an anonymous short item
that partially matched the saying under examination:

[ref] 1829 February 5, Trewman’s Exeter Flying-Post, Varieties, Quote
Page 4, Column 1, Exeter, Devon, England. (Newspapers_com) [/ref]

[Begin excerpt]
"Beauty is but skin deep," quoth an old maid, who had no pretensions
to it; "and so is ugliness," replied a young lady who had no
pretensions to that.
[End excerpt]

In 1840 a collection of essays and illustrations titled "Heads of the
People; or, Portraits of the English" was published in London. The
piece "Tavern Heads" by Charles Whitehead included dialog containing
the twisted adage:

https://books.google.com/books?id=4rkTAAAAQAAJ&q=+ugliness+#v=snippet&

[ref] 1840, Heads of the People; or, Portraits of the English, Drawn
by Kenny Meadows, With Original Essays by Distinguished Writers,
Tavern Heads by Charles Whitehead, Start Page 113, Quote Page 142,
Robert Tyas, London. (Google Books Full View) [/ref]

[Begin excerpt]
"When beauty was shared, I was behind the door, and my portion came
through the keyhole, I’m sure: but beauty’s only skin deep, after all,
they say."

"But ugliness goes to the bone, they say also," remarked Mrs. Chatham,
laughing. "Ah! Susan, you’re a sly girl."
[End excerpt]

Dorothy Parker died in 1967, and the earliest linkage between Parker
and the saying apparently occurred in 1977. This evidence was not
substantive, and QI believes that the attribution to Parker is
currently unsupported.

Feedback welcome,
Garson O'Toole

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