[Ads-l] There is no gravity, the earth sucks

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

The quip appears within an article in the journal Maledicta in 1980
according to a snippet match in Google Books. I cannot see the full
article. The article might give details about where and when the quip
was collected.

Year: 1980
Journal: Maledicta: The International Journal of Verbal Aggression
Volume 4
Start Page 167, Quote Page 171 (GB), End Page 173
Article Title: A Brief Survey of Some Unofficial Prosigns Used by The
United States Armed Forces
Author: Dan Cragg
Publisher: Maledicta Press
Database: Google Books snippet; must be verified with scans or paper;
article title and author name from index at logological.org/maledicta

[Begin excerpt]
(45) There is no gravity - the whole world sucks.
[End excerpt]

Garson

On Mon, Mar 14, 2022 at 1:27 PM ADSGarson O'Toole
<adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Good work Wilson, Ben, Bill, and Jonathan.
> Here is an interesting variant phrasing with "myth" and "world" in 1971.
>
> [ref] 1971 Copyright, Requiem for a Teacher by Robert Fogg and Bob
> Clifton, Chapter 3: Raeger, Quote Page 24, Golden Bell Press, Denver,
> Colorado. (Internet Archive at archive.org) [/ref]
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> If you think you can take it, we have a saying that's pretty popular
> on days like I had today . . . Ready??
> gravity is a myth; the whole world sucks.
> [End excerpt]
>
> Here is a variant with "myth" and "Earth" in a 1974 encyclopedia of graffiti.
>
> [ref] 1980 (Copyright 1974), Encyclopedia of Graffiti, Collected by
> Robert Reisner and Lorraine Wechsler, Section: Oragenitalism, Quote
> Page 259, (Reprint of 1974 edition from Macmillan, New York), Galahad
> Books, New York. (Verified on paper)[/ref]
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> Gravity is a myth; the Earth sucks.
> (Men's room, Grumman Aviation, Long Island, New York)
> [End excerpt]
>
> Barry Popik explored a different variant:
> If the world didn’t suck, we’d all fall off.
>
> Barry found a citation dated November 28, 1999.
> https://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/if_the_world_didnt_suck1
>
> Garson
>
>
> On Mon, Mar 14, 2022 at 12:47 PM Jonathan Lighter
> <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > Bill,
> >  https://archive.org/details/lp_hanging-in-there_hudson-landry/disc1/01.01.+Ajax+Liquor+Store.mp3
> > <https://archive.org/details/lp_hanging-in-there_hudson-landry/disc1/01.01.+Ajax+Liquor+Store.mp3>
> > gives
> > a 1971 date.
> >
> > That, to me, is more consistent with "your acapella head" and "earth sucks"
> > (and possibly "hang in there")  than a date of 1960.
> >
> > JL
> >
> > On Mon, Mar 14, 2022 at 11:35 AM Bill Mullins <amcombill at hotmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > > Without disparaging Wilson's memory, here is a documented cite:
> > >
> > > 1960 Hudson & Landry Hanging in There Dore Records LP-324 [liner notes,
> > > back of the album cover]
> > >
> > > Landry also writes tone poems for your acapella head: YOU WERE NEVER
> > > LOVELIER, AND I THINK IT'S A SHAME; THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS GRAVITY --
> > > THE EARTH SUCKS; IV'E FALLEN INTO SOMETHING AND I HOPE IT'S LOVE; THE ONLY
> > > THING I HATE WORSE THAN BIGOTRY IS MINORITY GROUPS; and THE BOTTOM'S
> > > DROPPED OUT OF EVERYTHING BUT YOU.
> > >
> > >
> > > > Re:  Undocumentable Army graffito
> > > >
> > > > Seen in November, 1959, written in pencil on the outside wall of one of
> > > the
> > > > mess halls at the now-defunct Fort Devens, Massachusetts:
> > > > "There is no gravity / The earth sucks."
> > > >
> > >
> > >
> > > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > > 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

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