[Ads-l] RES: Lewis Carroll Misquotes

[David Daniel]

When I was a kid (1950s) my dad used to say "The hurrier I go the behinder I
get," as do I to this day, and perhaps my kids will continue on. Until
today, I thought he had made it up! 
DAD


Poster:       ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Re: Lewis Carroll Misquotes
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Geoffrey Nathan wrote:
> Interestingly enough, the article misquotes one of the quotes, by 
> omitting a crucial morpheme. In the one about being behind. I recall 
> bumper stickers and cute plaques to put up in your kitchen or office 
> that actually say
>
> 'The hurrieder I go the behinder I get.'

Different versions of this saying have been circulating.

1943 Jan 30 The harder I work the behinder I get.
1958 Nov 23 The hurrier I go, the behinder I get.
1959 Mar 02 The hurrieder I work the behinder I get.

Date: January 30, 1943
Newspaper: The Detroit Free Press
Newspaper Location: Detroit, Michigan
Article: Behind the Front Page
Author: FP Staff
Quote Page 15, Column 1
Database: Newspapers.com

[Begin excerpt]
BEHINDER--Emmaleta Hicks clerical worker at the Michigan Central Terminal,
reports this scrap of conversation between two truck drivers in the middle
of the daily parcel blitz:
"Ya gettin' caught up with your work. Bill?"
"Naw," replied Bill, dejectedly, "the harder I  work the behinder I get."
[End excerpt]


Date: November 23, 1958
Newspaper: The Indianapolis Star
Newspaper Location: Indianapolis, Indiana
Article: The Things I Hear!
Author: Lowell Nussbaum
Section 2, Quote Page 5, Column 2
Database: Newspapers.com

[Begin excerpt]
GENE MEIHSNER, production man for Caldwell, Larkin, et al., collects
slogans. His latest:
"The hurrier I go, the behinder I get."
[End excerpt]


Date: March 02, 1959
Newspaper: Chattanooga Daily Times
Newspaper Location: Chattanooga, Tennessee
Article: Down The Lane - Not So Goofy
Author: Mouzon Peters
Quote Page 15, Column 3
Database: Newspapers.com

[Begin excerpt]
City Editor Ed Sussdorff says I misquoted him. He claims he did not say
anything so goofy as "The faster I work the behinder I get." What he really
said, he claims, was "The hurrieder I work the behinder I get." So the
record's now straight and my work is behinder than it's been in some time.
[End excerpt]

There is a match for "The hurrier I go, the behinder I get" in Google Books
(GB) within a periodical called "Executives' Digest". The GB date is 1951,
but when you probe it with 1951, 1952, =E2=80=A6, 1958, 1959 snippets
suggest that the bound volume contains issues from throughout the 1950s.

Garson O'Toole

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

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