Google Book Search: A powerful tool for investigating phrase origins

Google recently announced that Columbia University has become the 28th library to join with Google Book Search “to digitize works from its collections, and make them searchable and discoverable online.” For many years TeleRead has been in the vanguard in advocating the creation of huge national digital libraries, ideally well-linked with each other and as comprehensive as possible.

No, Google Book Search isn’t TeleRead, but it does offer an enticing preview of the possibilities. Many months ago I used Google Book Search to investigate the origins of a supposed “ancient Chinese curse.” I will update the results of this exploration at the end of this article. But first let me mention an essential offline tool for probing phrase origins.

Yogi Berra’s wisdom on the accuracy of quotes—or lack thereof

The Yale Book of Quotations published in 2006 is a magnificent reference work that is up-to-date, and authoritative; in addition, it is entertaining, fascinating and funny. Currently, it is the best modern quotation dictionary in my opinion. The editor, Fred R. Shapiro, has performed meticulous research tracking phrase histories and finding accurate attributions. Indeed, the book shows that some famous phrases have been assigned inaccurate attributions in common parlance. This phenomenon was commented upon by Yogi Berra, who remarked I really didn’t say everything I said.

The Yale Book of Quotations (YBQ) was compiled using many different resources including multiple large text databases. Yet, many text databases continue to grow and improve. Google has already digitized one million volumes [1], and Google publicly acknowledges that it is scanning more than 3,000 books per day [2]. Fortunately, this massive database is freely accessible to Internet users, and so I decided to use Google Book Search to investigate some phrases listed in the YBQ. First a warning to amateur sleuths (I include myself): The data provided by Google Book search is on occasion unreliable. For example, the dates specified for texts are sometimes inaccurate. There exist cases where every issue of a journal is given the date of the original creation of the journal, so one must try to carefully double-check data.

Scooping Robert Louis Stevenson

Consider the phrase You cannot make an omelette without breaking eggs. YBQ cites 1897 and the major literary figure Robert Louis Stevenson. It also mentions that The Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs presents an earlier 1859 variant “We are walking upon eggs and … the omelet will not be made without the breaking of some.” When performing retrospective searches it is useful to allow for variations in phraseology and for the substitution of synonyms, because the precise expression of a phrase can sometimes evolve over time and following this evolution is historically valuable.

Google Book Search yields a fascinating earlier citation of 1856 in the “Journal of Adventures with the British Army – Volume II” by George Cavendish Taylor. The military man, Taylor, discusses different battlefield strategies and then says the following regarding one rather bloody plan:

Our loss would of course have been greater, but our success would have been more complete; and, as Pelissier observed, One cannot make omelettes without breaking eggs. [3]

The Britannica says that Pelissier was a “French general who distinguished himself in the conquest of Algeria and was the last French commander in chief in the Crimean War.” It would not be too surprising for a French man to use the phrase since omelets are a French culinary dish. Also, the French version of the phrase is often attributed to the revolutionary Maximilien Robespierre who died in 1794. For example, Wikiquote cites Robespierre for the French version of the phrase but it does not provide any source. So perhaps General Pelissier was responsible for the transition of the phrase from French to English or maybe someone even earlier.

‘Operation successful but…”: Not always humor

Now, consider the satirical phrase from medicine The operation was successful, but the patient died. The YBQ gives a citation date of 1904 in The Washington Post. A slight change of wording, The operation was entirely successful, but the patient died, yields an earlier YBQ citation date of 1894. Searching for this medical phrase introduces another subtlety. It quickly becomes clear that the phrase is not always deployed in a humorous manner. Sometimes the phrase is used to simply and accurately record a sad turn of events. Hence, evaluating the context of a quote to assess its intended meaning is essential.

Google Book Search did find an earlier variant version of the phrase in a book entitled “Manual of Operative Surgery” published in 1887. The variant phrase substitutes the more decorous synonym “succumbed” for the word “died”. Intriguingly, there is no ambiguity about the meaning of the phrase because it is clearly labeled an “oft-repeated satirical expression” within the text itself. The context makes clear that the manual is warning surgeons about the dangers of operating on severely injured patients:

If a complicating injury be discovered, which of itself imperils the life of the patient, all idea of an immediate operation must be deferred. These thoughtful attentions will lessen the pungency of the oft-repeated satirical expression, The operation was successful, but the patient succumbed. [4]

Consider the phrase That dog won’t hunt. YBQ cites Ann Richards in a keynote speech at the Democratic National Convention in 1988. Google Book Search yields an interesting reference to a 1974 book “Leadership in the Secondary School” that contains a pointer to another Texas politician:

As Lyndon Johnson used to say: “That dog won’t hunt.” But unfortunately, that dog’s out there flushing a lot of frightened civil libertarian rabbits right now. [5]

Of course, this is only indirect evidence that Lyndon Johnson actually used the phrase, but it does suggest that the citation date can be pushed back substantially.

Consider the phrase Crime does not pay. YBQ cites Scientific American in 1874. Google Book Search yields an 1860 reference to “The Law Magazine and Law Review, Or, Quarterly Journal of Jurisprudence” that contains the following:

Amongst the men, it will be a sense of self-interest—a feeling that crime does not pay, and that honesty is the best policy. [6]

Consider the phrase Nothing succeeds like success. YBQ cites the 1867 work “Beyond Mississippi” by A. D. Richardson. Google Book Search yields several confusing and inaccurately dated references to the works of Edward Bulwer-Lytton. However, it also yields a fine 1855 reference to “Mammon; Or, The Hardships of an Heiress” by Mrs. Gore:

Few people like to entrust their business to a man who seems incapable of managing his own. If it be true that nothing succeeds like success, nothing is so unsuccessful as mischance. [7]

Consider the phrase There are some things that money cannot buy. YBQ cites an 1864 issue of the New York Times. Google Book search yields an 1859 reference to “Notes from the Plymouth Pulpit”:

There are some things that money cannot buy. The spot of land where your child lies buried, could it buy that? Or the last letter or gift of the best friend that you ever had on earth? [8]

The extraordinary wit and wordsmith Samuel Johnson spoke compellingly on this topic in 1800:

The commodiousness of money is indeed great; but there are some advantages which money cannot buy, and which therefore no wise man will by the love of money be tempted to forgo. [9]

A thought-provoking precursor phrase “Health is a Jewel dropt from Heav’n, Which Money cannot buy” apparently appears in a work from 1785 entitled “Spiritual songs: or, Songs of praise with Penitential cries to almighty God” by John Mason, Thomas Shepherd. But for some inexplicable reason Google only allows a snippet view of this very old text, hence it is hard to verify the date and contents.

Consider the phrase The South will rise again. YBQ cites an 1875 issue of the Atlanta Constitution. Google Book search yields an 1870 book entitled “Western Skies” that quotes a southern man who says:

The South will rise again and in 20 or 25 years will have regained her lost supremacy, but it will be a peaceable supremacy, and there won’t then be slavery for a bone of contention. [10]

Now we come to the phrase May you live in interesting times that is dubiously described as an ancient Chinese curse. YBQ states that “No authentic Chinese saying to this effect has ever been found”. YBQ also provides a 1939 reference to the “American Society of International Law Proceedings.” Google Book Search provides evidence that the ph
rase was in use as early as 1936. Hughe Knatchbull-Hugessen was the British Ambassador to China in 1936 and 1937 and he wrote a memoir that contains a mention of the phrase:

Before I left England for China in 1936 a friend told me that there exists a Chinese curse—” May you live in interesting times“. If so, our generation has certainly witnessed that curses fulfilment. [11]

Since the memoir was published in 1949 the chronological evidence it gives is indirect. The accuracy of the 1936 date depends on the precision of Knatchbull-Hugessen’s memory. But the quote is consistent with the timeline of his Ambassadorial service in China.

Fun and rewarding—but not TeleRead

In conclusion, exploring phrase origins can be fun and rewarding. Google Book Search is a remarkably powerful tool, and it is becoming more potent as its enormous database continues to grow. The occasional inaccuracies and the restrictive “snippet view” impede research in an irritating manner. An open comprehensive TeleRead-style approach to digital libraries would be a tremendous boon for everyone.

[1] “History, Digitized (and Abridged)” by Katie Hafner, New York Times, March 10, 2007. Link.
[2] “Google Book-Scanning Efforts Spark Debate” by Michael Liedtke, Associated Press, December 20, 2006. Link.
[3] Journal of Adventures with the British Army, from the commencement of the war to the taking of Sebastopol – Volume II by George Cavendish Taylor, page 231, Hurst and Blackett, London, 1856. Oddly, pages 230 and 231 no longer appear in the PDF for the digitized copy of this book at Google Book Search. Nor are they indexed in Google Book Search. However, I still have the PDF that I downloaded from Google that contains pages 230 and 231.
[4] “Manual of Operative Surgery” by Joseph Decatur Bryant, Page 2, D. Appleton and Company, New York, 1887.
[5] “Leadership in the Secondary School” by Frederick M. Raubinger, Richard M. Kamm, and Merle Richard Sumption, Merrill, 1974.
[6] “The Law Magazine and Law Review, Or, Quarterly Journal of Jurisprudence” by William S. Hein & Company, Page 94, November 1859 to February 1860, Volume VIII, London, Butterworths, 7, Fleetstreet.
[7] “Mammon; Or, The Hardships of an Heiress – Volume I” by Mrs. Gore (Catherine Grace Frances), Page 32, Hurst and Blackett, 1855.
[8] “Notes from Plymouth Pulpit: A Collection of Memorable Passages from the Discourses of Henry Ward Beecher” by Augusta Moore, Page 261, Derby and Jackson, New York, 1859.
[9] “A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland” by Samuel Johnson, Page 149, Alnwick, London, 1800.
[10] “Western Skies: A Narrative of American Travel in 1868” by John H. Bell, Page 5 of Section 23 “War Trails”, Printed for Private Circulation, 1870.
[11] “Diplomat in Peace and War” by Hughe Knatchbull-Hugessen, J. Murray, 1949