Close but...

“Close but no cigar”

Where did that saying come from? Who didn’t get the cigar, and what were they tryin for anyways? I tried a google search on such subject but all I could find was Clinton stuff…any ideas?

http://bostoncigar.com/html/close__but_no_cigar.htm

(When searching Google for a phrase, put it in quote marks.)

Thanks…as you can see. I’m new here.

Someone posted the same question over at Dave Wilton’s wonderful etymology(see, I do know the difference) site today. I replied thusly,

If the phrase was as common at the turn of the century or before as the cigar website suggests, it probably would have been in the lexicon before Lighter’s sighting in 1935. I can’t prove it, but there would appear to be some old fashioned puffery in the story. I hesitate to say it is a total fabrication.

Aw, why not. I think that their story was made up from whole cloth. Read it again. I think the guy who wrote the story about “life in the 1500’s” wrote both of them.

This seems like a case of excessive skepticism, samclem. What is the evidence that the phrase did not originate on midways as proposed by the “puffery?” And what element seems fake? Midways? Test-your-strength booths? Barkers? Cigars offered as prizes? The origin may have been later than 1900, the rest makes sense to me. (Well, the “only rich people could afford cigars” bit is untrue…there were cigars of all qualities and prices.)

The chances are slim that it was invented specifically for the 1935 Annie Oakley movie, as Hollywood tends to follow linguistic trends, not make them. It would be interesting to see how the phrase is used in the movie…

Wumpus I agree wholeheartedly that the phrase wasn’t “made up” for the movie. That is only the first sighting in print that we know of.

I agree with you also, that the origin of the phrase may be since 1900. In fact, I’m sure it is. But that cigar site would have you believe it originated “for sure” in the last century at carnivals. Prove it.

Rather…What is the evidence that it “did?” Some drivel written on a web page, sounding as if it was written by the guys on homeshopping selling coins? Where does the writer get his “facts” except from his imagination?

huh… i saw a garfield comic strip before… garfield had a close shave with jon concerning baths, and jon got wet instead of garfield, and garfield said “close, but no banana”. does that have anything to do with it?