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

[Jonathan Lighter]

 The joke about being "up to your neck in alligators" if the male gator
didn't eat most of the eggs dates back to at least 1944. Hence,

1956_Wichita Falls [Tex.] Record News_ (Nov. 3) 1: You know you are, as the
wags say, "up to your neck in alligators."

1958 Shepherd Mead _The Admen_ (N.Y.: Simon & Schuster) 261:  "Crisis?" "Up
to my neck in alligators."

1964 _Times_ (San Mateo, Calif.) (Sept. 18) 13: Up to your neck in
alligators? Add a room!

When I first heard the phrase (in the mid '70s), it was in a proverbial
form: "When you're up to your ass in alligators, you don't think about
draining the swamp."

JL

On Fri, Apr 18, 2025 at 3:21 PM ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com>
wrote:

> 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
>


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