[Ads-l] "them's the breaks"

[Ben Zimmer]

>From Boris Johnson's resignation speech -- a candidate for Quotation of the
Year?

“I want people to know how sad I am to be giving up the best job in the
world. But them’s the breaks.”

I'm not finding any coverage for "them's the breaks" in OED, HDAS, or GDoS.
Here's the earliest I've found so far:

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https://archive.org/details/variety93-1928-11/page/n109/mode/1up?q=breaks
Variety, Nov. 14, 1928, p. 46, col. 1 ("New York Chatter")
"Mike," a stage hand with "Scandals," had saved $225. He bet it on Al
Smith. Members of the company laid $1,200 against his pile. Them's the
breaks.
---

--bgz

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