[Ads-l] without breaking eggs

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Excellent citation, JL.
Back in February 2011 I initiated a thread about the proverb: "Omelets
are not made without breaking eggs". The post included a citation for
the omelet version of the proverb in English dated May 1796. The
French version of the proverb occurred many years earlier.

https://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2011-February/106502.html

Stephen Goranson posted a citation dated April 11, 1796 that was
similar to the one you found.  The citation contained the same
statement about pancakes although the periodical was different.

https://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2011-February/106505.html

The participants on the thread found wonderful material, but I have
not yet created a QI article on this topic.
Garson

On Tue, Aug 27, 2024 at 6:03 PM Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> 1796 _City Gazette and Daily Advertiser_ (Charleston, S.C.) (July 19) 3
> [Newspapers.com] : From an English Magazine for April, 1796...They said to
> [French General Charette], you have made us lose a great many men. "Ah! one
> cannot make pancakes without breaking eggs!"
>
> JL
>
> --
> "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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