the old college try in Wordorigins Archive 16 (10/04-02/05) Forum

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the old college try

Author	Comment
language hat	the old college try	Lead	[-]
Posts: 2772 Jan 29 05 3:59 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Tags : None There was a brief thread about the expression here, but it took the phrase only back to the '20s; an Ask MetaFilter thread on the subject has a quotation from 1919 (Christy Mathewson in the NY Times). Can we do any better?
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jgorman64	Re: the old college try	#1	[-]
Posts: 3698 Jan 29 05 4:08 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	By one year at NPA: A newspaper column by that title by Billy Sunday which has a 1917 copyright by The Bell Syndicate Inc. Appears in an Elyria Ohio paper October of 1918. Actually, the evangelist puts the expression on the lips of the great Giants manager John McGraw who after watching an rookie outfielder just out of college miss a heroic catch which resulted in a homer. While the "sapient birds of the Giants gave the kid the cackle" McGraw is quoted as saying, "That's the eye, young fellow. The old college try."
ozziemaland	Re: the old college try	#2	[-]
Posts: 5545 Jan 29 05 5:38 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Good find, jgor. Sam Clements posted the same in Jan 2004 at ADS-L, so I'd be pretty sure it's the oldest sighting anyone's found.