[Ads-l] Phrase: Oh for crying out loud

[mr_peter_morris@outlook.com]

Cosmopolitan, possibly 1924

https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Cosmopolitan/lPjmAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=%22for+crying+out+loud%22&dq=%22for+crying+out+loud%22&printsec=frontcover


The Michigan Chimes, possibly 1923

https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Michigan_Chimes/Hb_mAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=%22for+crying+out+loud%22&dq=%22for+crying+out+loud%22&printsec=frontcover



------ Original Message ------
From "ADSGarson O'Toole" 
<00001aa1be50b751-dmarc-request at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
To ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Date 04/03/2026 22:28:35
Subject Phrase: Oh for crying out loud

>Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>>  I think the baby dropped the ball on "Oh, for crying out loud."
>>  Newspapers.com has it from 1917, and non of the early exx. are from comic
>>  strips.
>
>Excellent work, JL.
>The expression did appear in Tad Dorgan's single-panel comic "Indoor
>Sports" in 1925. The line was spoken by an animal. The key word was
>spelled "cryin'" instead of "crying". Here are the details and a link:
>
>Date: September 16, 1925
>Newspaper: Kansas City Post
>Newspaper Location: Kansas City, Missouri
>Comic Strip: Indoor Sports
>Author: Tad Dorgan
>Quote Page 14, Column 3
>Database: Newspapers.com
>https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-kansas-city-post-cryin/192637094/
>
>[Begin excerpt]
>OH FOR CRYIN' OUT LOUD
>[End excerpt]
>
>Optical character recognition (OCR) on text in comics is often poor
>and inaccurate. Phrases in comics are sometimes not recognized. This
>causes searches to fail. Hence, it is possible that Dorgan used the
>expression before 1925.
>
>A comics enthusiast suggested that Tad Dorgan's "Indoor Sports" began
>in 1913. Hence, it might be possible to antedate the citation above.
>
>Website: Stripper's Guide
>Article: Tad Pokes Fun at the Boys in the Bullpen
>Posted by: Allan Holtz
>Date on webpage: December 29, 2005
>https://strippersguide.blogspot.com/2005_12_25_archive.html
>
>[Begin excerpt]
>Regarding Indoor Sports, I don't have a start date for it though I'm
>pretty sure it started in 1913.
>[End excerpt]
>
>Here are the details for a 1917 citation as JL indicated. The phrase
>was spoken by a Ziegfeld girl.
>
>Date: November 18, 1917
>Newspaper: The Tennessean
>Newspaper Location: Nashville, Tennessee
>Article: In the New York Theatres
>Author: Emory B. Calvert
>Section: Society, Quote Page 12, Column 2
>Database: Newspapers.com
>https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-tennessean-crying/192673324/
>
>[Begin excerpt]
>And Betty Hale, in the Ziegfeld Midnight Frolic, on the New Amsterdam
>Roof, is splitting things wide open--but--as she says, "Oh, for crying
>out loud!"
>[End excerpt]
>
>Garson
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
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