[Ads-l] "Pay It Forward" Not in OED

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Here is another interesting match, but the date is uncertain.

Year: Uncertain; HathiTrust metadata says 1899 but date is not visible
in the book (metadata says 1909 on another edition with no visible
date)
Book: The Biblical Illustrator
Author: Rev. Joseph S. Exell
Volume 1: Romans
Chapter 1
Quote Page 39
Publisher: Anson D. F. Randolph & Company, New York
Database: HathiTrust Full View; Only snippet view in Google Books

https://hdl.handle.net/2027/nnc1.cr00335738?urlappend=%3Bseq=57%3Bownerid=27021597769025050-61

[Begin excerpt]
What would we be without the example, influence, sympathy of other
men? We cannot pay the debt back to those that have gone; we can only
pay it forward; to those they make their heirs, and every generous
nature feels that unless he gives back to the world as much service as
he takes from it, he is a delinquent and short of honour.
[End excerpt]

Garson

On Thu, Dec 26, 2024 at 12:55 AM ADSGarson O'Toole
<adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Interesting topic, Fred. The phrase "paying it forward" with the
> pertinent sense appeared in the religious periodical "Unity" within an
> article discussing the death of conductor Theodore Thomas who was the
> founder and first music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra
> (according to Wikipedia).
>
> [ref] 1905 January 12, Unity, Volume 54, Number 20, (Untitled piece
> about conductor Theodore Thomas), Quote Page 307 and 308, Unity
> Publishing Company, Chicago, Illinois. (Google Books Full View) link
> [/ref]
>
> https://books.google.com/books?id=q3FJAQAAMAAJ&q=%22paying+it%22#v=snippet&
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> We cannot see how it could have been
> otherwise as a private venture, but Theodore Thomas
> ought to have been a public investment, a municipal
> contribution to the public life of the city. Let those
> who have been taught by the great band-master the
> elevating power of a great orchestra justify their great
> endowment, show their appreciation, acknowledge their
> debt by paying it forward, as all high debts must be
> paid. Great music should be made as cheap as good
> air and pure water in a city as great as Chicago.
> [End excerpt]
>
> Garson
>
> On Wed, Dec 25, 2024 at 8:55 PM Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu> wrote:
> >
> > The common phrase "pay it forward" does not appear to be in OED.  According to Wikipedia, it appears in the books Lily Hardy Hammond, In the Garden of Delight (1916) and Robert Heinlein, Between Planets (1951).
> >
> > Fred Shapiro
> >
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org