[Ads-l] fold like an umbrella

[Laurence Horn]

Predating "fold like a cheap suit", it would appear.

On Tue, Aug 4, 2026 at 9:08 AM Jonathan Lighter <
00001aad181a2549-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:

> Prominent politician yesterday: "She folded like an umbrella."
>
> [1872 _Daily Patriot_ (Washington, D.C.) (May 20) 2 [N]: To pass a bill of
> such tremendous significance - in the language of Mr. Conkling...of New
> York, [is] "to fold up like an umbrella and put away the telegraphic system
> of a hemisphere."]
>
> 1924 _Detroit Free Press_ (Aug. 10) -21: [The Tigers] have the old kick up
> to a certain point, then fold up like an umbrella.
>
> 1928 _World Herald_ (Omaha, Neb.) (Aug. 2) 14 [G]: Lloyd Hahn...folded like
> an umbrella in the stretch.
>
> 1931 _Washington Times_ (July 14) 26: The Bruins should fold up like an
> umbrella
> before the New Yorkers.
>
> 1933 _Decatur [Ala.] Daily_ (Dec. 27) 6: After threatening to become
> another Mathewson after several seasons, he folded like an umbrella in a
> typhoon.
>
> 1938 _Las Vegas Evening Review Journal_ (Dec. 31) 4 [G]: The Duke defense
> will fold like an umbrella in the spring sunshine.
>
> 1940 _Hartford Daily Courant_ (June 22) 6 [N}: They were telling the world
> that we would fold up like an umbrella if Hitler decides to invade our
> shores.
>
> 1958 _Longview [Wash.] Daily News_ (Sept. 28) 4 [N]: Alas, this most
> unhappy fella,/ About to fold like an umbrella.
>
> 2024 _Columbus [O.] Dispatch_ (Aug. 30) D5 [N]: Every year we overvalue the
> Terrapins, only to watch them fold like a $5 umbrella in  [a] 30 mph wind.
>
> Many others, of course.
>
> JL
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

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