[Ads-l] rent-free in your head

[Steven Losie]

Very interesting, Jonathan. I'm surprised that the phrase has been around
that long! After doing a little bit of research myself, here are a couple
of earlier ones. Is Ann Landers responsible for popularizing this phrase?:

[begin quote]
Gem of the Day: Hanging on to resentment is letting someone you despise
live rent free in your head.
[end quote]
Source: Ukiah Daily Journal (Ukiah, California), 8 March 1990, p.8, col.6 (
newspapers.com)
Author: Ann Landers

Ann Landers, of course, was a syndicated columnist, so the above quote is
found in many newspapers on that same day. But I cited that newspaper
specifically, because, about eighteen months later, someone else published
in that same paper cited Ann Landers specifically when recounting the
phrase:

[begin quote]
I thought about him again this morning when I read this "Gem of the Day" in
Ann Landers:

Hanging on to resentment is letting someone you despise live rent free in
your head.
[end quote]
Source: Ukiah Daily Journal (Ukiah, California), 6 Oct 1991, p.4, col.4 (
newspapers.com)
Author: Elaine Gray (Donrey News Service)

I don't see any evidence that the Ann Landers quote had been reprinted in
the interim, so it appears to have been memorable to at least some readers.

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