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

[Stephen Goranson]

By Metullus, Metellus may have been intended.

On Mon, May 4, 2026 at 7:07 AM Jonathan Lighter <
00001aad181a2549-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:

> 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
>

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