License plate frames proclaim the driver’s desire to be any number of other places. I’ve seen “I’d rather be” shopping, hiking, sleeping, shopping at Nordstrom, in Paris, etc.
I’m assuming, based on popularity, that “I’d rather be shopping” was the original version of this phrase. Am I right? When did it start? Who said it? And has it always been a license plate frame quote, or did it start on bumper stickers?
I always assumed they were descended from WC Fields quip, “I would rather be living in Philadelphia”.
Huh. I would have guessed that the original was fishing. But I don’t have anything solid.
I believe “I’d rather be fishing” is the original phrase and it has been around practically all of my 32 years. It is just a simple bumper sticker for the wage earning guy. I would guess those are just derivations of that one.
My father bought a new Lincoln in 1957. Whenever anybody commented on his fancy new car, he would say “I’d rather be flying.” (He was a pilot, obviously, with more than 14,000 hours logged.) Eventually he had the saying printed up on a bunch of bumper stickers and gave them away to all the pilots he knew. AFAIK that was the origin of the phrase.
Um, depending on when that happened, I don’t think it’s likely.
“I’d rather be fishing” is way old.
It’s not exactly an original thought; I doubt it can be traced to a point source.
My father is both a pilot and a fisherman, so I’ve always assumed that ‘flying’ or ‘fishing’ was the original. Those are the first ones I saw.
I’m not looking for the first person to ever say “I’d rather be” someplace else.
I’m interested in when and how it spread to bumper stickers. Which is still a difficult question, but less so.
The late Claude Dunkenfield is also credited for having said,“Philadelphia?I spent a month there on weekend”!
When I was a kid, late 60s early 70s, my grandfather had an “I’d rather be fishing” postcard tacked to his basement rec-room wall. This postcard was crispy and yellow-brown, and shared wallspace with items from as far back as the 30s. That’s my only verifiable cite. I have entered a “saved search” at eBay to notify me if " vintage OR antique AND ‘I’d rather be fishing’ " comes up. I’ll let you know if I get any nibbles.
About 20 years ago, I was in the Gainesville, FL, airport and saw a woman with a t-shirt that said “I’d rather be masturbating.” I chuckled.
A search of google books suggests both bumper stickers and license-plate frames with these slogans first popped up between 1970 and 1980. Even back then there was a wide variety of activities people back then would rather be doing, including fishing, hunting, skiing, sailing, and flying a helicopter. The very earliest I found was an “I’d rather be sailing” bumper sticker from 1971.
I’d Rather be Flying is also the title of a 1962 book by Frank Kingston Smith. I don’t know what influence, if any, it had on the bumper stickers and license-plate holders.
Surprisingly, the first variation I saw, in the early 1970s, was “I’d Rather Be Sailing”.
There’s also this:
I got mine circa 1975 and still have it, and I’ve seen other cars with this too at the gliderport. (The one I have has “Soaring” in slightly smaller letters, with a little silhouette of a glider on each side.)
(ETA: I’ve also got a sweatshirt, and a supply of bumper stickers, saying “Question Gravity. Fly gliders!”)
There also seem to be a lot of people who would rather be riding a mule on Molokai.
Welcome to the community, ngutso!
P.S. Could it have been “I’d rather be fly-fishing”?
I believe this is one of the very early ones - perhaps the original.
Not long after it appeared, I saw this: “I, too, would rather you were sailing”
Nowadays, hackers say, “I’d rather be phishing.”