[Ads-l] "long drink of water" redux

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Interesting topic, Ben. Here is a slightly earlier match without the "long".

Date: August 6, 1906
Newspaper: Cole County Daily Democrat
Newspaper Location: Jefferson City, Missouri
Article: Local Epitome
Quote Page 3, Column 3
Database: Newspapers.com

https://www.newspapers.com/article/jefferson-city-tribune-drink/186052674/

[Begin excerpt]
"Fritz" Raithel, the hot proposition on High street, left today for a
trip to Niagara Falls and Coney Island. "Fritz" looks like a drink of
water when he has Sunday clothes on and he will certainly startle the
New Yorkers.
[End excerpt]

Here is a match with "drink of carbonated water".

Date: May 26, 1906
Newspaper: The Atlanta Constitution
Newspaper Location: Atlanta, Georgia
Article: Grounds Damp; Nothing Doing
Quote Page 9, Column 3
Database: Newspapers.com

https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-atlanta-constitution-carbonated/186052840/

[Begin excerpt]
All of the Atlanta players lost flesh on the road. Baxter Sparks says
he lost 20 pounds. He looks as if he'd lost a few surplus avoirdupois,
but if we were to lose 20 pounds he'd look like a drink of carbonated
water.
[End excerpt]

Garson

On Mon, Dec 1, 2025 at 11:03 PM Ben Zimmer
<00001aae0710f4b7-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:
>
> Back in 2005, I posted about "long drink of water" = 'tall slim person' (in
> HDAS from 1936), with cites from 1914-15.
>
> https://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2005-May/049271.html
>
> In 2009, OED3 added "long/tall drink of water" to the entry for "drink,"
> taking it back to 1913. Here it is from 1906 (the first cite is similative).
>
> ---
> Buffalo Times, Sept. 2, 1906, p. 40, col. 7
> Joe Moore, who has a figure like a long drink of water and who hails from
> Chicago, is known in the crook world as "Chicago Slim."
> https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-buffalo-times-long-drink-of-water/186047513/
> ---
> (New York) Evening World, Nov. 12, 1906, p. 4, col. 1
> Judge Charies N. Bulger, of Oswego, laughed heartily at the State
> Chairman's description of the tall. slender-necked Brooklyn statesman as a
> "long drink of water."
> https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-evening-world-long-drink-of-water/186046806/
> ---
>
> --bgz
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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