[Ads-l] "You can't live with 'em..."

[Jonathan Lighter]

Splendid work, Garson.

But who was "Metullus"?

JL

On Sun, May 3, 2026 at 7:58 PM ADSGarson O'Toole
<00001aa1be50b751-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:
>
> Fun topic, JL. Here is an instance using "we" instead of "you".
>
> [ref] 1900 April 5, Oakland Times, Banquet to the Visitors, Quote Page
> 1, Column 1, Oakland, California. (Newspapers_com) [/ref]
> https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-oakland-times-women/196828226/
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> And we have their descendants about us, continued the speaker, and we
> all agree with that cheerful cynic who said, "These women, God bless
> them, we can't live with them and we can't live without them."
> [End excerpt]
>
> Here is an instance with "wives".
>
> [ref] 1901 August 31, The Montana Catholic, What Men Have Said About
> Wives, Quote Page 8, Column 6, Butte, Montana. (Newspapers_com) [/ref]
> https://www.newspapers.com/article/montana-catholic-live/196826972/
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> We cannot live happily with our wives, yet we cannot live happily
> without them. -- Metullus.
> [End excerpt]
>
> Here is a precursor referring to "the wicked" instead of women in 1888.
>
> [ref] 1888, Meditations For Every Day in the Year from the Christian
> Considerations of Father John Crasset, Translated by The Very Rev. T.
> B. Snow, Quote Page 166 and 167, R. Washbourne, London. (Google Books
> Full View) link [/ref]
> https://www.google.com/books/edition/Meditations_for_every_day_in_the_year_fr/j6k4Pv66FzoC?
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> The wicked help to sanctify the good,
> But the good cease to be good,
> If they are pleased with their company.
> You cannot live without them,
> But you ought not to live with them,
> Nor seek their society.
> [End excerpt]
>
> Garson
>
> On Sat, May 2, 2026 at 3:38 PM Jonathan Lighter
> <00001aad181a2549-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:
> >
> > 1907  Maude A. Bpmberger _Colonial Recipes_ (N.Y.: Neale) 105: Here's to
> > the women - God bless 'em,/ You can't live with 'em and you can't live
> > without 'em."
> >
> > 1908 _Wichita Eagle_ (May 24) 12 [Newspapers.com]: Here's to the woman
> > [sic] - God bless 'em. You can't live with 'em, and you can't live without
> > 'em."
> >
> > 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
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - 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 - http://www.americandialect.org