[Ads-l] "Old soldiers never die."

[Jonathan Lighter]

Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs: 1920.

[1890 Grand Army Journal (Topeka, Kans.) (May 10) 3: My God! Will those old
soldiers never die?]

1909 Daily Mail (Hull, Eng.) (Aug. 4, 1909) 3: One company [of the Hull
Rifles], this year, has for its favourite song, ‘Old soldiers never die!’

1911 Manchester Evening News (Jan. 30)  7: Even his fine recitations were
not more enjoyed than the frequent singing of the old Manchester regimental
chorus ‘Old soldiers never die; young soldiers wish they would,’ to the
tune of ‘Kind words can never die.’

1915 Armidale [N.S.W.] Express (Apr. 20, 1915) 7:  We [Australian soldiers
in Egypt] sing, ‘Old soldiers never die, never die, never die; old soldiers
never die, they fade away.’

1918 Manchester Guardian(July 8, 1918)  8:

             Old sailors never die, never die, never die;
             Old sailors never die, they simply fade away.


1939  Leland F. Lovette _Naval Customs Traditions and Usage_  (Annapolis:
U.S. Naval Institute Press) 270: Old sailors never die, they just sail away.


 1980 Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) (March 2) (Vancouver Section) 9: Old
sailors never die, they just get a little dinghy.

JL






"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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