Gift that keeps on giving
Richard Fontana
Does the expression "the gift that keeps on giving" have any known origin
or earliest usage date?
R J Valentine
} Does the expression "the gift that keeps on giving" have any known origin
} or earliest usage date?
Isn't that what "Eve" means?
--
R. J. Valentine <mailto:r...@smart.net>
"Beetle" means "Gift just like the last seventy-two thousand", doesn't it?
Ben Zimmer
Richard Fontana wrote:
>
> Does the expression "the gift that keeps on giving" have any known origin
> or earliest usage date?
Sources on the Web suggest it comes from a Sports Illustrated
advertising campaign in the '70s (get someone a subscription to SI for
Christmas, because it's the gift...).
--Ben
R H Draney
My high school yearbook, 1975, carried advertising from local
professionals (in the back, where it was less offensive to the spirit
of the thing)...one ad read:
"Give the gift that keeps on giving--
a pregnant cat!
Placed by Dr Beaubien, DVM"
Spehro Pefhany
> My high school yearbook, 1975, carried advertising from local
> professionals (in the back, where it was less offensive to the spirit
> of the thing)...one ad read:
> "Give the gift that keeps on giving--
> a pregnant cat!
I'm probably of a similar age, and I can mostly remember it being used
ironically, for example, with reference to STDs (which were funny then,
not scary). I suspect it comes from an earlier advertising slogan for
something (bonds that pay monthly? Fruit of the Month Club?), but
that's just speculation.
Best regards,
--
Spehro Pefhany --"it's the network..." "The Journey is the reward"
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Richard Fontana
> The renowned R H Draney <dado...@earthlink.net> wrote:
>
> > My high school yearbook, 1975, carried advertising from local
> > professionals (in the back, where it was less offensive to the spirit
> > of the thing)...one ad read:
>
> > "Give the gift that keeps on giving--
> > a pregnant cat!
>
> I'm probably of a similar age, and I can mostly remember it being used
> ironically, for example, with reference to STDs (which were funny then,
> not scary).
Well, that's how I first learned of it. Specifically, it was used in an
issue of _MAD_ magazine, in 1980 or 1981 at the latest, in one of those
spoofs of near-contemporary movies. There was a reference to "VD" (as it
was then known) as "the gift that keeps on giving".
Donna Richoux
Man, everyone remembers the jokey uses and no one remembers the serious
use? I'm sure it was a slogan of one of the big charitable donation
campaigns, like March of Dimes, but probably it was United Way, which
specialized in major advertising to get everyone's attention. I don't
see a site about the history of United Way, but there are 150 sites that
have both phrases, "give the gift that keeps on giving" and "United
Way".
--
Best --- Donna Richoux
Ben Zimmer
United Way ripping off Sports Illustrated? Sad.
--Ben
Bob Stahl
>Man, everyone remembers the jokey uses and no one remembers
>the serious use? I'm sure it was a slogan of one of the big
Don't forget email viruses.
It may have an origin either in televised campaigns such as those for
MS, or maybe the counter-top displays placed in grocery stores to
solicit pocket change. Could check on eBay for old buttons and displays
with such slogans.
The Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) began appeals on television
with Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin in 1951.
http://www.mdausa.org/telethon/2001_info.cfm?inc=faq
The March of Dimes was founded in 1938.
http://www.modimes.org/about2/Archives/FAQ2.htm
But financial insitutions and writers have also used the slogan in
encouraging parents to seed children's savings accounts or funds. Hmm...
---
Bob Stahl
Evan Kirshenbaum
> Man, everyone remembers the jokey uses and no one remembers the
> serious use? I'm sure it was a slogan of one of the big charitable
> donation campaigns, like March of Dimes, but probably it was United
> Way, which specialized in major advertising to get everyone's
> attention. I don't see a site about the history of United Way, but
> there are 150 sites that have both phrases, "give the gift that
> keeps on giving" and "United Way".
I'm going to go with Sports Illustrated, early '70s. Not much in the
way of proof, but
Monique Jervan found out that it was Sports Illustrated that used
the slogan "The Gift That Keeps On Giving", for a xmas ad. I was
so sure it was going to be something socially conscious. Then my
friend corrected me: "In the seventies??"
http://www.rt66.com/dthomas/70s/lost+found/lost+found.html
--
Evan Kirshenbaum +------------------------------------
HP Laboratories |Of course, over the first 10^-10
1501 Page Mill Road, Building 1U |seconds and 10^-30 cubic
Palo Alto, CA 94304 |centimeters it averages out to
|zero, but when you look in
kirsh...@hpl.hp.com |detail....
(650)857-7572 | Philip Morrison
Skitt
"Evan Kirshenbaum" <kirsh...@hpl.hp.com> wrote in message
news:ur8rre...@hpl.hp.com...
> tr...@euronet.nl (Donna Richoux) writes:
>
> > Man, everyone remembers the jokey uses and no one remembers the
> > serious use? I'm sure it was a slogan of one of the big charitable
> > donation campaigns, like March of Dimes, but probably it was United
> > Way, which specialized in major advertising to get everyone's
> > attention. I don't see a site about the history of United Way, but
> > there are 150 sites that have both phrases, "give the gift that
> > keeps on giving" and "United Way".
>
> I'm going to go with Sports Illustrated, early '70s. Not much in the
> way of proof, but
>
> Monique Jervan found out that it was Sports Illustrated that used
> the slogan "The Gift That Keeps On Giving", for a xmas ad. I was
> so sure it was going to be something socially conscious. Then my
> friend corrected me: "In the seventies??"
>
> http://www.rt66.com/dthomas/70s/lost+found/lost+found.html
I remember seeing that ad.
--
Skitt (in SF Bay Area) http://www.geocities.com/opus731/
I speak English well -- I learn it from a book!
-- Manuel of "Fawlty Towers" (he's from Barcelona).
Donna Richoux
> tr...@euronet.nl (Donna Richoux) writes:
>
> > Man, everyone remembers the jokey uses and no one remembers the
> > serious use? I'm sure it was a slogan of one of the big charitable
> > donation campaigns, like March of Dimes, but probably it was United
> > Way, which specialized in major advertising to get everyone's
> > attention. I don't see a site about the history of United Way, but
> > there are 150 sites that have both phrases, "give the gift that
> > keeps on giving" and "United Way".
>
> I'm going to go with Sports Illustrated, early '70s. Not much in the
> way of proof, but
>
> Monique Jervan found out that it was Sports Illustrated that used
> the slogan "The Gift That Keeps On Giving", for a xmas ad. I was
> so sure it was going to be something socially conscious. Then my
> friend corrected me: "In the seventies??"
>
> http://www.rt66.com/dthomas/70s/lost+found/lost+found.html
Pshaw, that's no proof at all. Some hearsay and a slanderous remark
implying there was no social consciousness in the 1970s. On the
contrary, this gave me new hope to look for something solid.
And I found something at the TESS trademark database that predates all
of our guesses. Would you believe 1924?
http://tess.uspto.gov/bin/jumpto?f=doc&state=3am7as.2.4
THE GIFT THAT KEEPS ON GIVING
Goods and Services
(EXPIRED) IC 009. US 036. G &
S: TALKING MACHINES AND PARTS THEREOF, TALKING
MACHINES AND PARTS THEREOF ADAPTED FOR
COMBINATION WITH RADIO RECEIVING SETS, AND TALKING
MACHINE RECORDS. FIRST USE: 19241128. FIRST USE IN
COMMERCE: 19241128
Mark Drawing Code
(5) WORDS, LETTERS, AND/OR
NUMBERS IN STYLIZED FORM
Serial Number
71207900
Filing Date
January 9, 1925
Registration Number
0224081
Registration Date
February 15, 1927
Owner
Assignment Recorded
ASSIGNMENT RECORDED
Type of Mark
TRADEMARK
Register
PRINCIPAL
Renewal
2ND RENEWAL 19670215
Live/Dead Indicator
DEAD
So it must have entered into the public consciousness through an
advertising campaign that none of us are old enough to remember. I
wonder what ad slogans of today are going to outlive their products...
Ben Zimmer
[snip]
>
> So it must have entered into the public consciousness through an
> advertising campaign that none of us are old enough to remember. I
> wonder what ad slogans of today are going to outlive their products...
Those "Talking Machine" people should've held on to the trademark-- they
would have made a bundle. I just did a search on the ProQuest database,
which indexes the archives of the New York Times and Wall Street
Journal, including all their advertisements! So far, they've indexed
NYT back to the '40s and WSJ back to the '50s. It looks like by the
'40s "the gift that keeps on giving" was already a trusted cliche among
ad copywriters touting gift ideas for the Christmas shopping season:
-------------
NYT, Nov 19, 1944
"Surest way to make a gardener happy this Christmas. Sudbury Soil Test
Kits... It's truly a gift that keeps on giving."
NYT, Dec 3, 1948
"Here's a gift that keeps on giving. Give the New York Times this
Christmas..."
NYT, Dec 10, 1948
"The gift that keeps on giving. Macy's Music Centre has more than
10,000 RCA Victor albums."
NYT, Dec 11, 1949
"Wallachs has Jewelcrest car keys that make unique gifts to car
owners... It's a gift that keeps on giving!"
WSJ, Nov 7, 1958
"Now -- time marches backwards with a Backward Clock. The craziest
clock in the world tells time backwards! ... A terrific wacky gift that
keeps on giving right around the clock for a lifetime."
WSJ, Nov 16, 1958
"Cellino rings or earrings that girls would trade a halo for at
Christmas. They make beautiful gifts that keep on giving-- forever."
etc.
-------------
The first citation in a news article is in a Sep 6, 1970 New York Times
piece on the National Geographic: "Membership in the society, in the
words of one executive, 'is the most popular Christmas present in the
world.' It is the gift that keeps on giving."
So by the time Sports Illustrated picked up on the catchphrase it was
already old hat (though they may have been the first to popularize it in
nationwide TV commercials).
--Ben
Gene Wirchenko
Would they be successful ad slogans?
Yes, because they survived.
No, because their products did not. After all, what is an ad
slogan for?
Sincerely,
Gene Wirchenko
Computerese Irregular Verb Conjugation:
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You have biases.
He/She has prejudices.