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

Tue Dec 12 20:33:48 UTC 2023

The guideline about oyster season was circulating in the 1700s in
Scotland. The market for oysters was small in the early decades of the
1700s in Scotland according to the citation below.

Year: 1796
Book: The Statistical Account of Scotland: Drawn Up from the
Communications of the Ministers of the Different Parishes
Author: Sir John Sinclair
Volume 17
Printed and Sold by William Creech, Edinburgh, Scotland
Quote Page 71
Database: Google Books

https://books.google.com/books?id=DDAtAAAAYAAJ&q=%22letter+R%22#v=snippet&q=%22letter%20R%22&f=false

[Begin excerpt]
The common observation is, that the oyster season lasts during all the
months in which the letter R occurs. But the fishers have not confined
themselves strictly to these months; and this is another cause of the
scarcity*.
[End excerpt]

[Begin excerpt]
* Some of the aged inhabitants report, that, about 60 or 70 years ago,
oysters were in little estimation. In a judicial declaration, emitted
A.D. 1776, by a residenter here, then 67 years old, he deponed, that
he remembered when there were not above 3 or 4 boats employed: That
they seldom caught above 600 in a day; and that there was little or no
demand, or sale for them, at that period.
[End excerpt]

Garson

On Mon, Dec 11, 2023 at 8:26 PM Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu> wrote:
>
> 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://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.newspapers.com%2Farticle%2Fpacific-daily-news-golf-days-ending-with%2F136669620%2F&data=05%7C02%7Claurence.horn%40bulldogs.yale.edu%7C875baf26167347b3534908dbfaaade94%7Cdd8cbebb21394df8b4114e3e87abeb5c%7C0%7C0%7C638379384014541211%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=Rt5%2Blm%2B%2FyM9fIIHT71DrncpD1nJIYi25EnXhzYSCZjw%3D&reserved=0 <https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.newspapers.com%2Farticle%2Fpacific-daily-news-golf-days-ending-with%2F136669620%2F&data=05%7C02%7Claurence.horn%40bulldogs.yale.edu%7C875baf26167347b3534908dbfaaade94%7Cdd8cbebb21394df8b4114e3e87abeb5c%7C0%7C0%7C638379384014541211%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=Rt5%2Blm%2B%2FyM9fIIHT71DrncpD1nJIYi25EnXhzYSCZjw%3D&reserved=0>
> >
> > [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
> >>
> >> ------------------------------------------------------------
> >> The American Dialect Society - https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.americandialect.org%2F&data=05%7C02%7Claurence.horn%40bulldogs.yale.edu%7C875baf26167347b3534908dbfaaade94%7Cdd8cbebb21394df8b4114e3e87abeb5c%7C0%7C0%7C638379384014541211%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=UdlefqVHD7rc0JpLUlvUy4Eemxj5WiTmZaA1XivMa34%3D&reserved=0 <https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.americandialect.org%2F&data=05%7C02%7Claurence.horn%40bulldogs.yale.edu%7C875baf26167347b3534908dbfaaade94%7Cdd8cbebb21394df8b4114e3e87abeb5c%7C0%7C0%7C638379384014541211%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=UdlefqVHD7rc0JpLUlvUy4Eemxj5WiTmZaA1XivMa34%3D&reserved=0>
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.americandialect.org%2F&data=05%7C02%7Claurence.horn%40bulldogs.yale.edu%7C875baf26167347b3534908dbfaaade94%7Cdd8cbebb21394df8b4114e3e87abeb5c%7C0%7C0%7C638379384014541211%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=UdlefqVHD7rc0JpLUlvUy4Eemxj5WiTmZaA1XivMa34%3D&reserved=0 <https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.americandialect.org%2F&data=05%7C02%7Claurence.horn%40bulldogs.yale.edu%7C875baf26167347b3534908dbfaaade94%7Cdd8cbebb21394df8b4114e3e87abeb5c%7C0%7C0%7C638379384014541211%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=UdlefqVHD7rc0JpLUlvUy4Eemxj5WiTmZaA1XivMa34%3D&reserved=0>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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