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

[Stephen Goranson]

https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Living_Age/qzpFAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=metellus+you+cannot+live+with+them&pg=PA66&printsec=frontcover

"...we cannot live with women comfortably, nor without them at all...."
Metellus Numidicus
April, 1851 66/1

On Mon, May 4, 2026 at 8:22 AM Stephen Goranson <goransonsc at gmail.com>
wrote:

> 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
>>
>

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