[Ads-l] on days ending in the letter Y

[Betty Birner]

In a play on that edict, in the 1957 movie An Affair To Remember, Terry (played by Deborah Kerr) tells Nickie (Cary Grant), "It's just that my mother told me never to enter a man's room in months ending in 'R'."

Betty


-----Original Message-----
From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> On Behalf Of Laurence Horn
Sent: Monday, December 11, 2023 7:26 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: on days ending in the letter Y

Is there a tacit allusion in all of these to the edict that one should only eat oysters in months containing the letter “R”?  Presumably that one was around a lot longer than the jocular version with days ending in “Y”.  I learned it from my parents in the early 1950s and no doubt it had a longer shelf life (unlike the oysters, one hopes) than that.  

LH

> On Dec 11, 2023, at 7:39 PM, ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> 
> Great work, Steven. Following your lead I found the citation below 
> which indicates that the joke was circulating amongst some golfers by 
> 1971.
> 
> Date: February 8, 1971
> Newspaper: Pacific Daily News
> Newspaper Location: Agana Heights, Guam
> Article: Pipe Dreams
> Author: Joe Murphy
> Quote Page 10, Column 1
> Database: Newspapers.com <http://newspapers.com/>
> 
> https://www.newspapers.com/article/pacific-daily-news-golf-days-ending
> -with/136669620/ 
> <https://www.newspapers.com/article/pacific-daily-news-golf-days-endin
> g-with/136669620/>
> 
> [Begin excerpt]
> Speaking of days of the week, a fellow I know says that he likes to 
> play golf just on those days ending with "y".
> [End excerpt]
> 
> Garson
> 
> On Mon, Dec 11, 2023 at 5:12 PM Steven Losie <stevenlosie at gmail.com <mailto:stevenlosie at gmail.com>> wrote:
>> 
>> Variations on this quote by former NBA basketball star Jerry West 
>> were printed in various newspapers at the end of 1974. It appears to 
>> have originated in the 31 October 1974 edition of the L.A. Times, as 
>> quoted
>> below:
>> 
>> [begin quote]
>> Jerry West, asked how many days a week he plays golf since retiring 
>> from
>> basketball: "Only on days ending in 'y'."
>> [end quote]
>> Source: Los Angeles Times, 31 Oct 1974, p.E2, col.2 (ProQuest 
>> Historical
>> Newspapers)
>> Article title: Morning Briefing: Ali's Prediction of Upset Win Turned 
>> Out Letter Perfect
>> 
>> [begin quote]
>> Former basketball star Jerry West told an interviewer that since his 
>> retirement, he's been playing golf: "But only on days ending in 'y'."
>> [end quote]
>> Source: Hartford Courant, 29 Nov 1974, p.105, cols.3-4 (ProQuest 
>> Historical
>> Newspapers)
>> Article title: Berle 'Roasted' by Friars Club
>> Author: Earl Wilson
>> 
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