[Ads-l] Here goes nothing!

[Jonathan Lighter]

I hadn't met this in decades till I heard a middle-aged fellow in a TV
commercial say it before giving himself a home cardiogram.

Not in OED - except in a 2008 quote for "Gadsbudlikins!"

1880  _Cincinnati Commercial Tribune_  (Dec. 17) 8: Go down and jump off
the bridge then, and cry out, "Here goes nothing!"

1885   _Washington [D.C.] Bee_ (July 11) 2: The best thing such an one
could do would be to go to the wharf, tie a rock around his neck, cry out
"Here goes nothing!" and jump over-board.


Exx. before 1927 are uniformly in reference to the last words of those who
commit suicide, mostly by jumping into water. This is the seemingly
earliest exx. *not* connected with a suicide, though it still involves
water:

1927 _Seattle Daily Times_ (June 17) 19: At Cape Race, we took a last look
at the American continent. Then "here goes nothing," we said to each other,
and started out [by air] over the big pond with "next station" Europe.

I associate it solely with taking a long chance on something that may be
foolish, difficult, unpleasant, dangerous, etc.

JL

--
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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