# Origin of "It's a dirty job, but somebody's gotta do it" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 2, 2005, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-its-a-dirty-job-but-somebodys-gotta-do-it/315345 "2005-08-02T20:21:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2005, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-its-a-dirty-job-but-somebodys-gotta-do-it/315345/21 "2005-08-03T18:49:34Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > The confluence of cites/recollections from the late 1970s is interesting. I might also say that my _impression_ is that it had not become a widespread catchphrase too much before that (perhaps 5 years or less) because 1977 is the first time I clearly remember it being used. I do not recollect it being a stock phrase in the 1950s or 1960s. I also have the impression that it emerged during the 70s, which is part of the reason for my Dirty Harry WAG (which I have been unable to confirm via Google). ---
**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2005, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-its-a-dirty-job-but-somebodys-gotta-do-it/315345/22 "2005-08-03T19:24:22Z")
> [@Manduck](#): > > I also have the impression that it emerged during the 70s, which is part of the reason for my Dirty Harry WAG (which I have been unable to confirm via Google). As I recall, Clint Eastwood’s character in _Dirty Harry_ (which dates from 1971) is asked how he got his nickname. His reply was along the order of “[I get]…every dirty job that comes along.” So if memory serves me right, it’s only a partial match. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2005, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-its-a-dirty-job-but-somebodys-gotta-do-it/315345/23 "2005-08-03T19:34:19Z")
I wonder if there might not be some influence of Superchicken’s admonition to his sidekick Fred (c. 1967), “You knew this job was dangerous when you took it!” ---
**Author:** ![rfgdxm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c0e974/32.png) [@rfgdxm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rfgdxm)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2005, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-its-a-dirty-job-but-somebodys-gotta-do-it/315345/24 "2005-08-03T19:38:10Z")
> [@Kizarvexius](#): > > As I recall, Clint Eastwood’s character in _Dirty Harry_ (which dates from 1971) is asked how he got his nickname. His reply was along the order of “[I get]…every dirty job that comes along.” > > So if memory serves me right, it’s only a partial match. [http://www.the-dirtiest.com/audio.htm](http://www.the-dirtiest.com/audio.htm) “Now you know why they call me Dirty Harry…every dirty job that comes along…”. As you say, only a partial match. ---
**Author:** ![jimmmy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/73ab20/32.png) [@jimmmy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jimmmy)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2005, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-its-a-dirty-job-but-somebodys-gotta-do-it/315345/25 "2005-08-03T22:19:35Z")
This came up several times on another message board about phrase origins. Some other ideas are proffered but nothing good enough to be SDMB-GQ definitive [http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin\_board/25/messages/48.html](http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/25/messages/48.html) [http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin\_board/8/messages/641.html](http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/8/messages/641.html) ---
**Author:** ![uglybeech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/82dd89/32.png) [@uglybeech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/uglybeech)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2005, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-its-a-dirty-job-but-somebodys-gotta-do-it/315345/26 "2005-08-04T01:04:28Z")
Somebody posted on [one web site](http://www.moviequotes.com/fullquote.cgi?qnum=99973) from Touch of Evil 1958 > [@](#): > > It’s a dirty job enforcing the law, but it’s what we’re supposed to be doing. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2005, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-its-a-dirty-job-but-somebodys-gotta-do-it/315345/27 "2005-08-04T03:06:00Z")
Let me amend my earlier post about it appearing in an episode of the MTM show. My find was a column by Gary Deeb, great TV newspaper writer from the times. This was about the premier episode of “The Betty White Show,” a spinoff from the popular and literate Mary Tyler Moore show. It was from the MTM factory. Written by David Lloyd. The factory had written such tv hits as The Mary Tyler Moore show, Bob Newhart, and Tony Randall shows. This first episode, written by Lloyd, who also wrote the classic “Chuckles the Clown” episode, flat-out has Betty saying “Yes, dear–it’s a dirty job, but somebody has to do it.” To anyone who watched that show, and other MTM shows from the period, it’s not hard to imagine that the writers invented the exact phrase. CBS comedy at the time ruled the roost. They were the most literate of comedies on TV. [\* Also, let me say that posters who have found similar expressions are doing a great service. The thought was out there before 1977.] ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2005, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-its-a-dirty-job-but-somebodys-gotta-do-it/315345/28 "2005-08-04T11:22:42Z")
Thanks to the help of Doug Wilson and Ben Zimmer over at the American Dialect Society, I now have the final answer. Mike Connors played _Nick Stone_ in a 1959-60 tv series called “Tightrope.” He was a detective playing an undercover cop. At the end of the show, he’d say “It’s a dirty job, but somebody has to do it.” Connors is probably better known for his later “Mannix” series. The info was found in a 1972 interview with Connors. ---
**Author:** ![Thadrumma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a88e4f/32.png) [@Thadrumma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thadrumma)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2023, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-its-a-dirty-job-but-somebodys-gotta-do-it/315345/29 "2023-05-21T18:44:48Z")
The oldest I could find was from Agatha Christie, the Seven Dials Mystery, 1929. “Faith No More.” That’s funny. ---
**Author:** ![Folly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folly/32/3219_2.png) [@Folly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folly)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2023, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-its-a-dirty-job-but-somebodys-gotta-do-it/315345/30 "2023-05-21T18:56:33Z")
This line? > “There’s the woman of course,” continued Jimmy. “She ought to be easier.But then, you’re not likely to run across her. She’s probably putting in the dirty work, being taken out to dinner by amorous Cabinet Ministers and getting State secrets out of them when they’ve had a couple. At least, that’s how it’s done in books. As a matter of fact, the only Cabinet Minister I know drinks hot water with a dash of lemon in it.” ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2023, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-its-a-dirty-job-but-somebodys-gotta-do-it/315345/31 "2023-05-21T19:39:32Z")
The earliest hit at [newspapers.com](http://newspapers.com) for the phrase appears in _The [Urbana-Champaign] Daily Illini_, 05 Dec 1945, Wed · Page 2. Leon H. Dickstein used it in The Curse of an Aching Heart, a satiric story about how returning veterans were not being treated properly. It doesn’t show up again until a John Crosby column in April 1965 and then in a Bob Greene column from February 1977. They were both popular syndicated columnists, with a huge readership. I find a few hits over the next year, when P. J. Bednarski and Mike Lupica, both, you guessed it, popular syndicated columnists, used it, Bednarski quoting a line from _The Betty White Show_. After that the deluge. However, “it’s dirty work but somebody has to do it” appears earlier, the first hit being in The [Baltimore] Evening Sun, 28 May 1928, Mon · Page 20, in a puzzle column by John Knox. One more hit comes in 1937, then nothing until 1975. Similar but not exact versions precede it. Alan Dale’s 1894 "A Moral Busybody\* has “it’s dirty work but beggars, you know, cannot be choosers.” “It’s a dirty job” first appears in the English _Coventry Standard_, 17 Jul 1840, Fri · Page 4. Obviously, like @Folly, I couldn’t find any other use of dirty in _The Seven Dials Mystery_, so I doubt that has anything to do with anything. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2023, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-its-a-dirty-job-but-somebodys-gotta-do-it/315345/32 "2023-05-21T21:29:12Z")
Not to hijack a thread started in 2005, but how come [newspapers.com](http://newspapers.com) can spot a phrase from 1928, but it turns up no trace of my mother’s photo and accompanying story from the _Dallas News_ when she won a blue ribbon at the Texas State Fair in the 1950s? ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2023, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-its-a-dirty-job-but-somebodys-gotta-do-it/315345/33 "2023-05-21T21:55:13Z")
My find is not the earliest use of the phrase found but it may help explain its emergent popularity in the 1970s. From the movie _Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me?_ (1971): “I shall have to screw every attractive girl within the limits of the City of New York. It’s a dirty job, Georgie, but somebody’s got to do it.” ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2023, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-its-a-dirty-job-but-somebodys-gotta-do-it/315345/34 "2023-05-22T01:11:24Z")
As far as I can tell, they don’t index the Dallas News. ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2023, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-its-a-dirty-job-but-somebodys-gotta-do-it/315345/35 "2023-05-22T20:35:13Z")
> [@Kent\_Clark](#): > > Not to hijack a thread started in 2005, but how come [newspapers.com](http://newspapers.com) can spot a phrase from 1928, but it turns up no trace of my mother’s photo and accompanying story from the _Dallas News_ when she won a blue ribbon at the Texas State Fair in the 1950s? They don’t have the rights to that newspaper and/or dates if it is scanned. I used to subscribe to both Newspaper [Archives.com](http://Archives.com) and [Newspapers.com](http://Newspapers.com) to get better coverage. And there are numerous newspapers scanned that can only be read at a particular library as they paid for the scanning and do not license the use. ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2023, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-its-a-dirty-job-but-somebodys-gotta-do-it/315345/36 "2023-05-22T20:46:52Z")
From the Chicago Examiner, Sep-05-1917-p-9, "E.W. Oman, “It’s a dirty job but it’s got to be done”. In reference to the first 13 Chicagoans who were heading off to war ahead of Chicago’s 24,982 quota. ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2023, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-its-a-dirty-job-but-somebodys-gotta-do-it/315345/37 "2023-05-22T20:55:22Z")
From the Hawarden Independent, Oct-17-1912-p-7, “It’s a dirty job but the friends of ye pay well for it” quoted from “My Lady Of Doubt” by Randall Parrish. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2023, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-its-a-dirty-job-but-somebodys-gotta-do-it/315345/38 "2023-05-24T00:11:02Z")
I find your former example to be much closer than the latter. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2023, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-its-a-dirty-job-but-somebodys-gotta-do-it/315345/39 "2023-05-24T00:33:48Z")
They are much better for small papers than major ones. Licensing fees are undoubtedly an issue, but many of the majors want to keep their archives behind a paywall only for subscribers. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-its-a-dirty-job-but-somebodys-gotta-do-it/315345.md?page=1)