[Ads-l] When You Are Up To Your Ass in Alligators

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Thanks for your testimony, James. I will add it to my electronic file
about this topic.

The QI article contains a May 24, 1970 citation in "The Salina
Journal" of Kansas which does mention that the saying appeared on a
sign although the sign may have been homemade. The article was about
Lance Burr who was the head of Consumer Protection Division in Kansas:

[ref] 1970 May 24, The Salina Journal, Let seller beware, Lance Burr
believes, Start Page 1, Quote Page 2, Column 3, Salina, Kansas.
(Newspapers_com) [/ref]

[Begin excerpt]
He follows the advice of a wry statement taped to a wall in his office
– "When you are up to your ears in alligators, it is difficult to
remind yourself that your initial objective was to drain the swamp."
[End excerpt]

I did not see any advertisements for pertinent commercial signs in
1969 or earlier. The internet archive and the google books database do
contain trade journals which would be a natural place for such
advertisements. Of course, the earliest published evidence often
appears after a saying enters circulation especially when the saying
contains a word deemed vulgar such as "ass". Perhaps future
researchers will find earlier published evidence. Maybe the initial
phrasing was substantially different.

Garson

On Fri, Apr 18, 2025 at 2:40 PM James Landau
<00000c13e57d49b8-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:
>
> When I reported to work in the Pentagon in November 1969, I found that motto posted on numerous walls and bulletin boards.  If I remember correctly, some of the motto began with a text that I do not remember verbatim but which ran something like "Our mission is to produce quality product on time without errors..."
> Also, if I remember correctly, as far back as 1969 that motto was available on commercially printed signs, which means it was widely known by November 1969
> James Landau
> jjjrlandau at netscape.com
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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