[Ads-l] Why George Bernard Shaw opposed cut flowers in vases

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Thanks for your helpful response, Dan.

Pascal Tréguer of Word Histories has an article about “(all) the world
and his wife”. His first citation is dated 1730.
https://wordhistories.net/2020/04/22/world-and-his-wife/

The Oxford English Dictionary has an entry with the same citation.

[Begin excerpt]
wife n.
P4. colloquial. With singular and plural agreement. (all) the world
and his wife: a large and miscellaneous group of people; everybody.
Cf. world n. Phrases 6b(a).
1730   Daily Post 30 June (advt.)    A Defence of Hen-pecks: Or, All
the World and his Wife.
[End excerpt]

Garson

On Mon, Oct 3, 2022 at 7:41 PM Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> "The world and his wife" is a phrase that goes back to Swift, meaning
> everybody.
>
> I wonder if it is the name of a newspaper or magazine column.
>
> On Mon, Oct 3, 2022, 7:28 PM ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > The inquiry from Pete Morris inspired me to explore a different quip
> > attributed to George Bernard Shaw. Here is a link to the Quote
> > Investigator article:
> >
> > https://quoteinvestigator.com/2022/10/03/cut-flowers/
> >
> > Here is the first citation.
> >
> > [ref] 1906 February 5, Boston Evening Transcript, Mr. Shaw’s
> > Rejoinders, Quote Page 5, Column 4, Boston, Massachusetts.
> > (Newspapers_com) [/ref]
> >
> > <Begin excerpt>
> > MR. SHAW’S REJOINDERS
> > [From the World and His Wife]
> > Someone once offered to send Mr. G. B. Shaw a box of game; but he
> > replied that he would rather die than live at the price of bloodshed.
> > So the anxious donor offered flowers. “Surely, you must be fond of
> > flowers, Mr. Shaw?” “So I am of children,” he replied, “but I don’t
> > cut off their heads, and stick them in pots about the room.”
> > <End excerpt>
> >
> > The newspaper stated that the tale was: “From the World and His Wife”.
> > This might mean that Shaw’s wife made the attribution in the pages of
> > “The New York World”. During subsequent weeks and months the story
> > appeared in numerous newspapers including “The Chicago Daily Tribune”
> > of Illinois and the “Los Angeles Express” of California.
> >
> > Garson
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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