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

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Thanks, Grant.
That is an entertaining variant. I will add it to the article and
acknowledge your help.
Garson

On Tue, Oct 24, 2023 at 10:41 AM Grant Barrett
<gbarrett at worldnewyork.org> wrote:
>
> Perhaps this is a nascent form of it:
>
> 1937 June 1 George Ross, _Reading (PA) Times_, "In New York": At  Mario's
> Mirador, they were discussing liquor and its effect on the human anatomy.
> ¶"Two drinks," declared one, "and I'm under the table." ¶"That's nothing,"
> a rival boasted, "two drinks and the table's under me."
>
>
>
> On Mon, Oct 23, 2023 at 8:21 PM ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > 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
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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