Tag: Jean Kerr

Beauty Is Only Skin-Deep, But Ugly Goes Clean To the Bone

Dorothy Parker? Jean Kerr? Charles Whitehead? Simon Suggs Jr.? Sam Stackpole? Abe Martin? Kin Hubbard? Herbert Spencer? Mort Walker? Anonymous?

Dear Quote Investigator: Beauty is only skin-deep according to an adage that can be traced back to the 1600s. This assertion has inspired a wide variety of twisted reactions and elaborations. Here are three closely related instances:

  • Beauty’s only skin-deep, but ugliness goes to the bone.
  • Beauty is only skin-deep and ugly goes clear to the bone.
  • Beauty is only skin-deep but ugly goes clean through.

This insight has often been attributed to the prominent wit Dorothy Parker. Would you please examine this topic?

Quote Investigator: In 1824 “American Farmer” of Baltimore. Maryland published a piece by “A Backwoodsman” about a fictional court case. An instance of the adage appeared together with the phrases “trite saying” and “I have heard it said” signaling familiarity and anonymity. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:[1]1824 January 23, American Farmer, Volume 5, Number 44, To the Editor of the American Farmer from A Backwoodsman, Pleas Before the Hon. Chief Justice Rational, In the Vale of Kentucky, Start Page 349, … Continue reading

It is a trite saying that beauty is but skin deep, yet I have heard it said that ugly goes to the bone, and I am sure there is nothing in this doctrine so beautiful as to prevent its penetrating even to the marrow.

Dorothy Parker died in 1967, and the earliest linkage, known to QI, between Parker and the saying occurred in 1977. This evidence was not substantive, and QI believes that the attribution to Parker is currently unsupported.

Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Continue reading Beauty Is Only Skin-Deep, But Ugly Goes Clean To the Bone

References

References
↑1 1824 January 23, American Farmer, Volume 5, Number 44, To the Editor of the American Farmer from A Backwoodsman, Pleas Before the Hon. Chief Justice Rational, In the Vale of Kentucky, Start Page 349, Quote Page 350, Column 1, Printed by J. Robinson, Baltimore. Maryland. (Google Books Full View) link

If You Can Keep Your Head When Everybody Round You Is Losing His, Then It Is Very Probable That You Don’t Understand the Situation

Rudyard Kipling? Elizabeth Ogden Smith? Bob Rigley? Jean Kerr? Anonymous?

Dear Quote Investigator: The popular poem “If —” by the prominent literary figure Rudyard Kipling has often been parodied. The first lines extol the ability to remain levelheaded in situations where others are panicking. A comical twist suggests that the unflappable person probably does not really understand what is happening. Would you please examine this humorous response?

Quote Investigator: The earliest match located by QI appeared in the “High School Bulletin” section of a newspaper published in Rhinebeck, New York in September 1935. Emphasis added to excerpts by QI:[1] 1935 September 20, The Rhinebeck Gazette, High School Bulletin: Published by Rhinebeck High School: Section: Jokes, Quote Page 8, Column 4, Rhinebeck, New York. (Old Fulton)

And if you can keep your head when everybody round you is losing his, then it is very probable that you don’t understand the situation.

The second match in December 1936 occurred in the high school news section of a Lake Park, Iowa newspaper. The word “and” was omitted, and the word “around” replaced “round”:[2] 1936 December 17, The Lake Park News, The Little Sioux Warrior, Quote Page 7, Column 2, Lake Park, Iowa. (Newspapers_com)

If you can keep your head when everybody around you is losing his, then it is very probable that you don’t understand the situation.

In both cases, the creator of the expression was anonymous. Here are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Continue reading If You Can Keep Your Head When Everybody Round You Is Losing His, Then It Is Very Probable That You Don’t Understand the Situation

References

References
↑1 1935 September 20, The Rhinebeck Gazette, High School Bulletin: Published by Rhinebeck High School: Section: Jokes, Quote Page 8, Column 4, Rhinebeck, New York. (Old Fulton)
↑2 1936 December 17, The Lake Park News, The Little Sioux Warrior, Quote Page 7, Column 2, Lake Park, Iowa. (Newspapers_com)
Exit mobile version