Laugh? I thought I'd die!
July 8, 2011 5:32 PM Subscribe
What is the origin of the phrase, "Laugh? I thought I'd die!"? I'm under the impression that it's older than the Beau Brummels song (1964).
Similarly we had an infinite sort of poem when I was a kid:
I laughed so hard I thought I'd die.
I did die.
They planted flowers on my grave.
The roots grew down and tickled me.
I laughed so hard I thought I'd die.
...
I don't know its origin, but I a quick consult with the elder family dates it to at least the 1930's.
posted by Ookseer at 8:13 PM on July 8, 2011
I laughed so hard I thought I'd die.
I did die.
They planted flowers on my grave.
The roots grew down and tickled me.
I laughed so hard I thought I'd die.
...
I don't know its origin, but I a quick consult with the elder family dates it to at least the 1930's.
posted by Ookseer at 8:13 PM on July 8, 2011
Best answer: I don't know about an "origin" emerging necessarily. Sometimes these things are more organic than that. A search of Google Books finds it used as colloquial dialog as early as 1918 (US), in a 1924 play (UK), a 1930 issue of Life, and a 1935 novel (Aus). None of them are signal works that might have inspired or popularized the term.
Intriguingly, I found a close analog in this 1897 light fiction by a Kansas author published in Hawke's Bay (NZ) about the American West, "I was so full of laugh I thought I would die." I think it's probably just a variant of the "die laughing" concept. This particular construction sounds very much like a "pepperpot" nonce expression, but obviously an American origin is suggested by this early citation.
posted by dhartung at 4:55 PM on July 9, 2011
Intriguingly, I found a close analog in this 1897 light fiction by a Kansas author published in Hawke's Bay (NZ) about the American West, "I was so full of laugh I thought I would die." I think it's probably just a variant of the "die laughing" concept. This particular construction sounds very much like a "pepperpot" nonce expression, but obviously an American origin is suggested by this early citation.
posted by dhartung at 4:55 PM on July 9, 2011
Response by poster: Thanks for all the leads. In the absence of a definitive answer, I've marked dhartung's response as the best since it went so far back.
posted by kimota at 7:51 PM on August 8, 2011
posted by kimota at 7:51 PM on August 8, 2011
This thread is closed to new comments.
Laugh? I thought I'd die!
Die? I thought they'd bury me!
Bury me? I thought they'd throw dirt in my face!
Throw dirt in my face? I thought the worms would tickle me!
Tickle me? I thought I'd laugh!
Laugh? I thought I'd die!
Die? I thought they'd bury me...
posted by phunniemee at 5:56 PM on July 8, 2011 [2 favorites]