[Ads-l] "Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades."

[Shapiro, Fred]

Excellent work by John.  The Dictionary of Modern Proverbs, ed. Charles Clay Doyle, Wolfgang Mieder & Fred R. Shapiro, but mostly the brilliant work of Doyle, pushes half of this great proverb back a long ways:

1914 Lincoln (Nebraska) Daily News 15 Aug.: "Close does not [sic] count only in horseshoes."

1921 Decatur (Illinois) Daily Review 3 Oct.: "Close counts in horseshoes only."

1932 Washington Post 8 Jul. "Close doesn't count except in horseshoe pitching."

But the "hand grenades" component is what makes the proverb so compelling.

Fred Shapiro

________________________________
From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of Jonathan Lighter <00001aad181a2549-dmarc-request at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Friday, October 31, 2025 3:31 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Subject: Re: "Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades."

Earlier:

1964 _Columbus [O.] Dispatch_ (Dec. 31)  10A [GenealogyBank]: Close only
counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.

1965 _Elwood [Ind.] Call-Leader_ (Dec. 4) 6 [Newspapers.com]: But like they
say - close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.

JL

On Tue, Apr 26, 2016 at 10:23 AM W Brewer <brewerwa at gmail.com> wrote:

> << Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. >>
> As I recall, my first recollection of the expression was on an Army rifle
> range, c. 1968, where the goal was the winning of marksmanship badges. I
> daresay that must have been the originating context.
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.americandialect.org%2F&data=05%7C02%7Cfred.shapiro%40YALE.EDU%7Cb9b11bd1fd5c4138b35f08de18b41b3d%7Cdd8cbebb21394df8b4114e3e87abeb5c%7C0%7C0%7C638975358986271842%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=EQUdC9U1GHz%2BYvNUyF3WrAncecDNtXvQmehMPWTpF%2Fo%3D&reserved=0<http://www.americandialect.org/>
>


--
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.americandialect.org%2F&data=05%7C02%7Cfred.shapiro%40YALE.EDU%7Cb9b11bd1fd5c4138b35f08de18b41b3d%7Cdd8cbebb21394df8b4114e3e87abeb5c%7C0%7C0%7C638975358986295141%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=xVXvyeOlSzRfmskVTJZF4kpICvplYdqjean679JawiE%3D&reserved=0<http://www.americandialect.org/>

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