[Ads-l] slight antedating of "life of riley"

[Stephen Goranson]

And, if relevant, Mungersdorf is not an Irish name.
sg

On Sun, Nov 30, 2025 at 5:45 AM dave at wilton.net <dave at wilton.net> wrote:

>
> The operative lines in the ballad are "spare the life of Reilly" and "I'll
> have the life of Reilly," which means in context, "I will see that he is
> executed for theft." It's just a collocation of the words, not the lexical
> phrase.
>
> The full citation for the 1910 use, which does appear to be an earlier use
> of the phrase as we know it, is:
>
> "Over the Bumps." Paterson Evening News (New Jersey), 10 May 1910, 6/6.
> ProQuest Newspapers.
>
> "Henry Mungersdorf is living the life of Riley just at present. He is
> thinking of building a bungalow up at Pompton feeder so as to be near the
> Good Times Outing club boys. Well, the sparrows could get a worse
> neighbor."
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: "mr_peter_morris at outlook.com" <mr_peter_morris at OUTLOOK.COM>
> Sent: Sunday, November 30, 2025 12:48am
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: [ADS-L] slight antedating of "life of riley"
>
>
>
> I don't see why any connection is far-fetched.
>
> The idiom means that someone is living in luxury.
> The ballad is the story of someone who stole a large amount of money.
>
> A connection doesn't seem unreasonable to my amateur eyes.
>
> And here's an article on the phrase, with a cite from May 1910.
>
> https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/the-life-of-riley.html
>
> "Henry Mungersdorf is living the life of Riley just at present."
>
>
> ------ Original Message ------
> From "Jonathan Lighter"
> <00001aad181a2549-dmarc-request at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> To ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Date 29/11/2025 16:38:21
> Subject slight antedating of "life of riley"
>
> >OED: Dec. 6, 1911.
> >
> >1911 _Newark Evening Star_ (Jan. 11) 12 [GenealogyBank]: The old king...is
> >living the life of "Reilly."
> >
> >Origin, btw, still unknown. The phrase seems to have become popular almost
> >immediately.
> >
> >Yes, the phrase appears in the nineteenth-century Anglo-Irish broadside
> >ballad "William Reilly," but contextually any connection to the idiom is
> >far-fetched.
> >
> >JL
> >--
> >"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
> truth."
> >
> >------------------------------------------------------------
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>
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
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>

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