I’m back to inviting readers to submit quotations whose origins they want me to try to trace, using my book, The Yale Book of Quotations, and my more recent researches.
merry staser asked:
“‘Wham, bam … thank you ma’m’” We have been looking for this one all over and can’t seem to find out where it came from … (travelling in a carriage … was one we found … but not a full explanation). Thanks.”
I don’t have a full explanation (and I’m not sure one is necessary, the meaning of the expression is obvious). The earliest occurrence I know of is in the 1948 play Mister Roberts, where a sailor character says “Well there goes the liberty. That was sure a wham-bam-thank-you ma’am!”
tunaman asked:
“I heard that Benjamin Franklin once said (in ‘Poor Richard’s Almanac’) ‘a watched pot never boils over’, which is a totally different concept than ‘a watched pot never boils’. I once looked for this online, but didn’t come up with much one way or the other. Any ideas?”
The usual form of the proverb is, of course, “a watched pot never boils.” Neither form appears in Benjamin Franklin’s writings.
Do any readers have any other quotations whose origins they would like me to attempt to trace?
and 
. You can also watch it on 
In 1925 the Barbasol shaving cream company ran an interesting advertisement in The American Magazine and The Saturday Evening Post. The phrase “the old, slam-bang, thank-you-ma’ams” is used to refer to old-fashioned automobile tires which produced a bumpy and jolting ride. The advertisement contrasted these tires with the new balloon tires which allowed for a more comfortable riding experience
Here is an excerpt extracted from Google Books archive (not verified on paper):
The Balloon-tired shave
All who want to give up the nice, fat, easy-chair balloons and go back to the old, slam-bang, thank-you-ma’ams of motoring, stand up! We thought so.
Barbasol smooths out the shaving road the same new, modern, easy way. Takes all the ruts and bumps and hairpin turns out of the razor tour.
[End excerpt]
These instances suggest a hypothesis: The phrase may have been shifted from the domain of automobiles and tires into a sexual domain and assigned a new meaning. Alternatively, it is also possible that the advertising copy writers were exploiting a double-entendre.
I always get annoyed by people who say, “It’s always darkest just before the dawn,” usually said to cheer somebody up who’s down on their luck with hope of better times. I’d prefer people either offer a unique thought or something that makes scientific sense. Where did this horrible quote come from?
@Josh, I really liked that quote and its got many plays on it like “there is light at the end of te tunnel”, but in my reading of a Stephen Hymer essay who quotes Theodor Mommsen: “The dawn does not return till after the night has run its course” and he was in turn talking about the demise of the Roman empire I think if I remember correct
The quote I’m interested in finding its origin is that of: “If you stand for nothing, you will fall for anything.” who first said this??