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

[Jonathan Lighter]

There's also a "tall drink of water," in Newspapers.com from 1912 and
GenealogyBank from 1922.

JL

On Tue, Dec 2, 2025 at 1:26 AM ADSGarson O'Toole <
00001aa1be50b751-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:

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


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