[Ads-l] Quotation: You are all a lost generation

ADSGarson O'Toole adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM
Sun Sep 25 08:15:07 UTC 2022


The latest Quote Investigator article explores the provenance of the
label applied to the cohort before the “greatest generation”. Here are
three pertinent phrases:

(1) You are all a lost generation.
(2) You are all a génération perdue.
(3) C’est un generation perdu.

Here is a link to the QI article:
https://quoteinvestigator.com/2022/09/24/lost-generation/

In 1926 Ernest Hemingway published “The Sun Also Rises” which began
with the following epigraph:

[Begin epigraph]
“You are all a lost generation.”
—Gertrude Stein in conversation.
[End epigraph]

Interestingly, author Gertrude Stein did not coin this phrase, but
there are two different stories about the originator. Hemingway
claimed that Stein heard the phrase from an automobile repair shop
owner. Yet, Stein wrote that she heard the phrase from a hotel keeper.
Details are given in the QI article.

Feedback welcome
Garson

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


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