[Ads-l] When America sneezes

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Excellent topic, Benjamin and Ben. You performed great work locating
intriguing citations and attributions,

The mention of France, Metternich, and Talleyrand indicate that a
thorough search would require generating and using multiple
translations into French, German, and perhaps other languages.

Instead, I performed a preliminary search restricted to English. Here
is a fun instance in 1852 attributed to “M. de Humboldt”. Talleyrand
died in 1838. Metternich died in 1859. So earlier instances are
certainly possible.

Date: April 1852
Periodical: Brownson's Quarterly Review
Article 3: Austria and Hungary: Review of Les Saints Lieux. Pèlerinage
à Jérusalem, en passant par l'Autriche, la Hongrie, la Slavonie, les
Provinces Danubiennes, Constantinople, l'Archipel, le Liban, la Syrie,
Alexandrie, Malte, la Sicile, et Marseille
Start Page 195, Quote Page 201
Publisher: Benjamin H. Greene, Boston, Massachusetts
Database: Google Books Full View

https://books.google.com/books?id=GeN9NyyJr9kC&q=%22to+sneeze%22#v=snippet&

[Begin excerpt - double-check for errors]
It is the servility with which all that is done in France is copied in
Germany, that led M. de Humboldt to say to a French gentleman who was
taking his leave of him to return to Paris, ‘See to it that your
country keeps herself well, for when France gets a cold in her head
all Europe is obliged to sneeze.’ I do not know whether this is a
great honor for France or not, but surely it is very little for the
rest of Europe.
[End excerpt]

Garson

On Fri, Jul 22, 2022 at 1:12 PM Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Looks like a job for Quote Investigator. There are various versions of
> "When France sneezes, (the rest of / all of) Europe catches a cold / blows
> its nose / holds its breath," attributed to Metternich, Talleyrand, and no
> doubt others.
>
>
> On Fri, Jul 22, 2022 at 11:20 AM Barretts Mail <mail.barretts at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > John Spain (
> > https://www.irishcentral.com/when-america-sneezes-col2619-41051922 <
> > https://www.irishcentral.com/when-america-sneezes-col2619-41051922>) says
> > “When America sneezes, the rest of the world catches the cold” originated
> > in 1929 due to the Wall Street stock market crash.
> >
> > I learned it around 1990 as Japan catching a cold. Misako Onoda (
> > https://japanintercultural.com/about-us/news/president-obamas-bow-to-the-emperor/
> > <
> > https://japanintercultural.com/about-us/news/president-obamas-bow-to-the-emperor/>)
> > has an article that includes this.
> >
> > On July 21, Argentine President Alberto Fernández said (
> > https://es-us.finanzas.yahoo.com/noticias/video-alberto-fern%C3%A1ndez-alguien-estornuda-175600794.html
> > <
> > https://es-us.finanzas.yahoo.com/noticias/video-alberto-fern%C3%A1ndez-alguien-estornuda-175600794.html>)
> > "Cuando alguien estornuda en Moscú un argentino se resfría”.”
> >
> >
> >
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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