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

[Jonathan Lighter]

Fifty years ago I read a book wherein a professional thief applied the
saying somewhat differently.

JL

On Tue, Jan 3, 2023 at 8:15 PM Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu> wrote:

> 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
> >
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> 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