[Ads-l] Quote: Three and I'm under the table. Four and I'm under the Host

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

One more drink and I’d have been under the host!
The line immediately above was ascribed to Dorothy Parker in the 1944
book "Try and Stop Me" by Bennett Cerf. Fred Shapiro mentioned this
quotation and ascription way back in 2010 in a mailing list thread.

https://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2010-July/101021.html

The late Joel S. Berson presented a pertinent four-line verse
attributed to Dorothy Parker.
https://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2010-July/101036.html

Now, there is a Quote Investigator article on this topic.
https://quoteinvestigator.com/2023/10/23/more-drink/

The first instance of the verse I have located appeared in 1956 within
"The Engineers' Gatepost", a student publication from the
undergraduate engineering students of the University of Alberta in
Edmonton, Canada. The creator was anonymous, and Dorothy Parker was
not mentioned:

[ref] 1956 January 26, The Engineers' Gatepost: Undergraduate
Publication of the Engineering Students’ Society, Moralscrapbook,
Quote Page 8, Column 1, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta,
Canada. (Internet Archive at archive.org) [/ref]
https://archive.org/details/GAT_1956012601/page/n7/mode/2up?q=%22I%27m+under+the+table%22

[Begin excerpt]
Nurse’s Lament:
'I wish I could drink like a lady
(One or two at the most).
Three and I'm under the table,
Four and I'm under the Host.'
[End excerpt]

The first attribution of the verse to Parker that I have found
appeared in the 1961 book "These Unlucky Deeds" by popular novelist
Richard Martin Stern:

[ref] 1961 (1960 Copyright), These Unlucky Deeds by Richard Martin
Stern, Quote Page 140, Charles Scribner's Sons, New York. (Verified
with scans) [/ref]

[Begin excerpt]
What was that verse bit attributed to Dorothy Parker? "I cannot drink
martinis/ Only one or two at the most./ After three I'm under the
table/ After four I'm under my host." That summed up martinis pretty
well.
[End excerpt]

[Begin acknowledgement]
Thanks to mailing list discussants Fred R. Shapiro and the late Joel
S. Berson in 2010. Shapiro pointed to the quotation in "Try and Stop
Me". Berson presented an instance of the verse and remarked that
Parker often received credit. Also, thanks to Troy Patterson who wrote
an article on this topic in 2013 titled "Martini Madness" at "Slate".
Patterson concluded that Parker did not create the verse.
[End acknowledgement]

Feedback welcome
Garson

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