[Ads-l] Antedating of "Good Fences Make Good Neighbors"

[Laurence Horn]

Yes, agreed--I love that it was from a Vermonter. (Although I'm
half-expecting someone will antedate it with a cite from New Jersey.) I
think of Frost's echt Northern New Englandy "Mending Wall", where the
narrator keeps telling his neighbor that "something there is that does not
like a wall" while the neighbor keeps stubbornly insisting "good fences
make good neighbors". In the end, the narrator is willing to grant the
neighbor might be right but only when there are cows.

LH

On Tue, Jan 3, 2023 at 1:47 PM Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
wrote:

> At least it was in Vermont.
>
> JL
>
> On Tue, Jan 3, 2023 at 1:28 PM Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu>
> wrote:
>
> > That should be "makes them careful"
> >
> > Fred Shapiro
> >
> > ________________________________
> > From: Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu>
> > Sent: Tuesday, January 3, 2023 1:25 PM
> > To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Subject: Antedating of "Good Fences Make Good Neighbors"
> >
> > No, it wasn't Robert Frost.
> >
> >
> > good fences make good neighbours (OED 1834)
> >
> > 1794 Vermont Gazette 30 May 2/4 (Newspapers.com)  Good fences make good
> > neighbors, and a critical watch over persons in trust make them careful
> to
> > preserve their integrity.
> >
> >
> > Fred Shapiro
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
>
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

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