[Ads-l] "Every man a tiger!"

[Jonathan Lighter]

If it looks like a tiger, prowls like a tiger, and growls like a tiger, I
say it's a tiger!

Since Tony the Tiger seems not to prowl and is two-dimensional to boot, I'm
dubious about his tigerhood, even without the cigars and martinis.

JL

On Fri, Jun 17, 2022 at 11:09 AM Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>
wrote:

> Ah, but would a tiger genetically engineered to enjoy martinis and cigars
> (and live to flick the tail) still be a tiger? A question for the poets and
> metaphysicians.
>
> On Fri, Jun 17, 2022 at 9:31 AM Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > > Could any, etc.
> >
> > A little genetic engineering, and the answer is yes.
> >
> > JL
> >
> > On Thu, Jun 16, 2022 at 1:23 PM Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>
> > wrote:
> >
> > > That's all very well, but on a contrary note, there is this immortal
> > Auden
> > > haiku suggesting that maybe a tiger is not all that spiffy a thing to
> be:
> > >
> > > Could any tiger
> > >
> > > Drink martinis, smoke cigars,
> > >
> > > And last as we do?
> > >
> > > Happy Father's Day, TWIMC.
> > >
> > > LH
> > >
> > > On Thu, Jun 16, 2022 at 11:09 AM Jonathan Lighter <
> > wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
> > > wrote:
> > >
> > > > Without the exclamation mark, this is the title of Tom Clancy's 1999
> > book
> > > > about the Air Force in the 1991 Gulf War.
> > > >
> > > > The phrase was used as a morale-boosting PR slogan by various units
> > > during
> > > > the Vietnam War. I hadn't seen it earlier.
> > > >
> > > > Until now:
> > > >
> > > > 1957 Louis Vittes & Endre Bohem _Monster from Green Hell_ (film):
> Every
> > > man
> > > > a tiger."
> > > >
> > > > 1955 _1955 Michiganensian_ (Ann Arbor: U. of Mich.) LIX 191: Every
> Man
> > a
> > > > Tiger.
> > > >
> > > > 1953 _Air University Quarterly Review_ VI 109: Athletics: "Every Man
> a
> > > > Tiger."
> > > >
> > > > 1950 Roy Olin Stratton _SACO - The Rice-Paddy Navy._ (Pleasantville,
> > > N.Y.:
> > > > C. S. Palmer) 38 [ref. to WWII] :  It was in India that you first
> heard
> > > and
> > > > tried to memorize the SACO song EVERY MAN A TIGER, sung to the tune
> of
> > > that
> > > > grand old Navy song, THE ARMORED CRUISER SQUADRON.
> > > >
> > > > 1942 _Morning Chronicle_  (Manhattan, Kans.) (Jan. 10) 2: Manhattan
> > > Indians
> > > > Down Chapman By 46-33 Score  'Every Man a Tiger.'
> > > >
> > > > 1928 _Columbus [O.] Dispatch_ (Nov. 9) 6: The game! the game! Every
> > man a
> > > > tiger for play....State boys must win the day!
> > > >
> > > > [1866 _Evening Bulletin_ (Providence, R.I.) (Oct. 24) 2 [ref. to
> 1842]:
> > > THE
> > > > TIGER SPEECH.--In a very charming sketch of Mr. [John] Whipple in the
> > > > _Post_ is some account of the famous "tiger speech," familiar to our
> > > elder
> > > > readers. We well remember it.... Let 'em come, said the orator, and
> > when
> > > > they reach our doors, they shall find us, every man, a  _tiger in his
> > > den_.
> > > > The effect was electric.]
> > > > --
> > > > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
> > > truth."
> > > >
> > > > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > > > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> > > >
> > >
> > > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> > >
> >
> >
> > --
> > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
> truth."
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>


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

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