Re: Blood and treasure

Donna Richoux wrote:

Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Donna Richoux wrote:

Mark Brader <msb@xxxxxxx> wrote:

So it seems it was his American publishers who were responsible for
turning the phrase around and leaving out the "toil" part -- or at
least for fixing that version in print. 

Yes, it would seem likely to me that they were merely fixing into print
what had already been handed around the US by word of mouth. Ben, does
ProQuest show "blood, sweat and tears" being used in newspapers between
the May 1940 speech and 1941?

Yep. It appeared as early as Aug. 13, 1940 in the New York Times as the
"suggested title" of Churchill's anthology of speeches for publication
in the U.S. -- the suggestion apparently coming from Putnam's.

That's funny. No, really, was that it? Nobody else?

Sorry, what's the question? That's the earliest it appears in connection to Churchill, but it appears several times thereafter in the runup to the book's publication. On Sep. 6, 1940 the New York Times reported:

-----
Putnam's is marking time on the new Winston Churchill book. The publishers have not had approval from the British Prime Minister on their proposed title of "Blood, Sweat and Tears.
-----

The earliest example on Proquest, by the way, is from 1846:

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"Christ in the Garden", _The Green Mountain Gem_, Sep 1846. p. 202
So deep was his sorrow-- so fervent his prayer,
That down on his bosom rolled blood, sweat and tears;
I wept to behold him, and asked him his name,
He answered 't is Jesus! -- from heaven I came!
-----

There's also an example shortly preceding the Churchill speech with "blood, toil, tears, and sweat" in an article reprinted from _Windsor Magazine_ of London, by Lady Tegart:

-----
"In the Holy Land"
The Living Age", May 1939, p. 255
But it [the British mandate in Palestine] has been built on a foundation of blood, sweat and tears.
-----

So if "b, s & t" had been floating around before Churchill made his speech, then it would make sense if Churchill's quote was modified as it circulated to correspond with a preexisting expression.
.

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