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

[Baker, John]

Antedated in American Farmer (Jan. 23, 1824) (Google Books):  “It is a trite saying that beauty is but skin deep, yet I have heard it said that ugly goes to the bone, and I am sure there is nothing in this doctrine so beautiful as to prevent its penetrating even to the marrow.”


John Baker


From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> On Behalf Of Jonathan Lighter
Sent: Saturday, September 26, 2020 10:45 AM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: Adage: Beauty’s only skin deep, but ugliness goes to the bone

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1859 _North Carolina University Magazine_ (March) 329:
Let him remember, however,

Beauty's but skin deep,
Ugly's to the bone;
Beauty ever fades away,
Ugly holds its own.

Don't ignore the early appearance of nominalized "ugly."

JL

On Sat, Sep 26, 2020 at 8:39 AM ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com<mailto:adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com>>
wrote:

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


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