Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Who first said "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy"?


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Why: I guess, like an idiot, I assumed it originated in The Shining, but in "Downton Abbey" (I'm on board), in an episode set in 1913:
Mary: You know what all work and no play did for Jack.
Matthew: You think I'm a dull boy anyway, don't you.
Answer: The sentiment is so old that nobody is sure who said it first! In 2400 BC Egypt, the sage Ptahhotep wrote something that some people think* is related to the proverb:
One that reckoneth accounts all the day passeth not a happy moment. One that gladdeneth his heart all the day provideth not for his house. The bowman hitteth the mark, as the steersman reacheth land, by diversity of aim.
(*I don't see it.)

In English, the first recording is from 1659 in James Howell's Proverbs in English, Italian, French, and Spanish and in his Paroimiographia the same year.
In 1825, Irish novelist Maria Edgeworth expanded the proverb:
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy,
All play and no work makes Jack a mere toy.
She's from Clever-Clever Land. So are the businessmen who say things like:
All work and no play makes jack - and plenty of it.
Source: Phrases.org.uk, Wikipedia

The More You Know: The phrase also appears in a billion other things I've seen or read, like:

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