[Ads-l] Quote Origin: Life With a Capital F

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

The October 2024 and January 2025 issues of "The 'Quote ... Unquote'
Newsletter" edited by Nigel Rees discussed the exclamation in the
subject line. The "F" corresponds to the initial letter of the
four-letter word for fornication. Hence, this topic might be of
interest to Jesse. I did not see this saying in "The F Word" (3rd and
4th editions). The phrase is ambiguous. Radically different
interpretations occur when the letter corresponds to "freedom" or
"fun".

Now the Quote Investigator website has an article on this topic located here:
https://quoteinvestigator.com/2025/01/07/life-capital/

The earliest match I found appeared in a 1960 memoir by Jacqueline
Carol titled "Cocktails and Camels". The following passage presented
two interpretations. The first connected "F" to "freedom", and the
second alluded to the taboo word:

[ref] 1960 Copyright, Cocktails and Camels by Jacqueline Carol,
Chapter 9: The Convalescents and One in Particular, Quote Page 127,
Appleton-Century-Crafts, New York. (Verified with scans) [/ref]

[Begin excerpt]
... the outspoken Beatrice shattered us all by saying, "I just love
life with a capital F." It seems she meant Freedom and not what the
two one-track minds on either side of her thought she meant.
[End excerpt]

In 1960 U.S. modernist poet Charles Olson published a poem with the lines:

[Begin excerpt]
nor is it life,
with a capital F
[End excerpt]

But the book "A Guide To The Maximus Poems" stated that Olson was
referring to fellow poet Vincent Ferrini.

In 1969 South African playwright Athol Fugard included the expression
in the two act drama "People Are Living There".

In 1987 "Hammer and Tongues: The Best of Women's Wit and Humor"
included the following entry:

[Begin excerpt]
LILIAN BAYLIS (1874-1937; English music-hall singer and founder of the Old Vic)
Life -- with a capital F.
[End excerpt]

Since Baylis died in 1937 it would be wonderful to find contemporary
support for this attribution, but I have not yet found any citations
while Baylis was alive.

Garson

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