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Another County Heard From -- ???

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JOSEPH T CHEW

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Oct 3, 1991, 6:59:24 PM10/3/91
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So what's the origin of the phrase "another county heard from"?

These days, one hears it only as a sardonic response to someone who
has just said something either stupid or incredibly obvious. But
what was its original, straight meaning? Some possibilities:

* Election returns
* Civil defense/emergency reporting

Inquiring minds wanna know.

--Joe
"A word to the wise will suffice, but a tome to the dumb will succumb"

Bill Cole

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Oct 10, 1991, 1:43:08 PM10/10/91
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JOSEPH T CHEW writes:
|> So what's the origin of the phrase "another county heard from"?
|>
|> These days, one hears it only as a sardonic response to someone who
|> has just said something either stupid or incredibly obvious. But
|> what was its original, straight meaning? Some possibilities:
|>
|> * Election returns
|> * Civil defense/emergency reporting
|>
|> Inquiring minds wanna know.

My guess is elections. The version with which I'm familiar goes "another
precinct heard from."

/Bill
A Cornhusker

Dian De Sha

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Oct 15, 1991, 3:12:51 PM10/15/91
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My mom (from Nebraska) always said "another country heard from"
whenever she heard a baby who had been sleeping issue a wake-up cry.
Never asked her where the phrase came from...

Patrick Slevin

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Sep 3, 2016, 10:17:09 AM9/3/16
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Supposed to have been from the 1876 U.S. Presidential Election.

A close election, the voting was carefully watched.


Jerry Friedman

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Sep 3, 2016, 5:03:16 PM9/3/16
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On 9/3/16 8:17 AM, Patrick Slevin wrote:
> Supposed to have been from the 1876 U.S. Presidential Election.
>
> A close election, the voting was carefully watched.

I've only ever heard "another country heard from" (and not since my
childhood).

--
Jerry Friedman
"No Trump" bridge-themed political shirts: cafepress.com/jerrysdesigns
Bumper stickers ditto: cafepress/jerrysstickers

grabber

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Sep 3, 2016, 5:08:41 PM9/3/16
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On 9/3/2016 10:03 PM, Jerry Friedman wrote:
> On 9/3/16 8:17 AM, Patrick Slevin wrote:
>> Supposed to have been from the 1876 U.S. Presidential Election.
>>
>> A close election, the voting was carefully watched.
>
> I've only ever heard "another country heard from" (and not since my
> childhood).

I've only encountered this via the hospital episodes in /Catch-22/,
where I'm pretty sure it's "county".

Joe Fineman

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Sep 3, 2016, 6:30:49 PM9/3/16
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Jerry Friedman <jerry_f...@yahoo.com> writes:

> On 9/3/16 8:17 AM, Patrick Slevin wrote:
>> Supposed to have been from the 1876 U.S. Presidential Election.
>>
>> A close election, the voting was carefully watched.
>
> I've only ever heard "another country heard from" (and not since my
> childhood).

It was definitely "county" in my childhood (1940s), and alluded, I
presume, to *some* work of fact or fiction that portrayed partisans
excitedly watching election returns. In my family it was used
sarcastically when a bystander presumed to interject a comment in a
conversation.
--
--- Joe Fineman jo...@verizon.net

||: When the Big Bang happened, I said "What the hell was :||
||: *that*?" :||

Jerry Friedman

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Sep 3, 2016, 6:53:58 PM9/3/16
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On 9/3/16 4:26 PM, Joe Fineman wrote:
> Jerry Friedman <jerry_f...@yahoo.com> writes:
>
>> On 9/3/16 8:17 AM, Patrick Slevin wrote:
>>> Supposed to have been from the 1876 U.S. Presidential Election.
>>>
>>> A close election, the voting was carefully watched.
>>
>> I've only ever heard "another country heard from" (and not since my
>> childhood).
>
> It was definitely "county" in my childhood (1940s), and alluded, I
> presume, to *some* work of fact or fiction that portrayed partisans
> excitedly watching election returns. In my family it was used
> sarcastically when a bystander presumed to interject a comment in a
> conversation.

Apparently "county" is the original. My childhood in the '60s is when
"country" started to appear, and "country" has now taken over.

https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=another+country+heard+from%2Canother+county+heard+from&year_start=1800&year_end=2000&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Canother%20country%20heard%20from%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Canother%20county%20heard%20from%3B%2Cc0

http://bit.ly/2c3zRQ8

It's a little older than 1876, though. Here it is in a letter dated
1870 and printed in Congressional Committee Reports of 1874-'75 (as it
says on the title page).

https://books.google.com/books?id=7iFlAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA1265

Tony Cooper

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Sep 3, 2016, 8:05:52 PM9/3/16
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Peter T. Daniels

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Sep 3, 2016, 11:15:02 PM9/3/16
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On Saturday, September 3, 2016 at 6:30:49 PM UTC-4, Joe Fineman wrote:
> Jerry Friedman <jerry_f...@yahoo.com> writes:
>
> > On 9/3/16 8:17 AM, Patrick Slevin wrote:
> >> Supposed to have been from the 1876 U.S. Presidential Election.
> >>
> >> A close election, the voting was carefully watched.
> >
> > I've only ever heard "another country heard from" (and not since my
> > childhood).
>
> It was definitely "county" in my childhood (1940s), and alluded, I
> presume, to *some* work of fact or fiction that portrayed partisans
> excitedly watching election returns. In my family it was used
> sarcastically when a bystander presumed to interject a comment in a
> conversation.

I think it was always "county," no vestigial connection with elections.

Charles Bishop

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Sep 4, 2016, 11:27:31 AM9/4/16
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In article <nqfdqi$oeg$3...@news.albasani.net>,
Jerry Friedman <jerry_f...@yahoo.com> wrote:

> On 9/3/16 8:17 AM, Patrick Slevin wrote:
> > Supposed to have been from the 1876 U.S. Presidential Election.
> >
> > A close election, the voting was carefully watched.
>
> I've only ever heard "another country heard from" (and not since my
> childhood).

For me, it's only been "another county".

AmE.

--
charles

Dr. HotSalt

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Sep 4, 2016, 6:51:00 PM9/4/16
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I note the electioneering connection:

"The deputies will all vote right in this district. Twenty thousand blank commissions will carry the State overwhelmingly. Bait is good, and especially for democratic office-hunger... Don't send this letter to the Attorney-General"

Sounds straight out of Wikileaks...


Dr. HotSalt

thejea...@gmail.com

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Sep 18, 2016, 9:49:41 PM9/18/16
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On Thursday, October 3, 1991 at 6:59:24 PM UTC-4, JOSEPH T CHEW wrote:
> So what's the origin of the phrase "another county heard from"?
>
> These days, one hears it only as a sardonic response to someone who
>








































































































like another poster, my mom would say it when a baby awoke/or similar action. I always thought it was a funny expression - just very familiar and very "mom". As a more senior person, I was reflecting on what it meant and assumed it was either an election reference or something to do with Ireland (county kirk, etc , things like that). Much too deep. It is no doubt the election return process.

Another country heard from just sounds like a misquote that someone started and then got repeated. (age perspective - my mom was born in 1926)

palai...@yahoo.com

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Feb 2, 2018, 9:30:36 PM2/2/18
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When my sister and I were little, if one of us added our opinion to the grownups' discussion my dad used to say "Another country heard from!" I didn't feel it as sarcasm, more as a kind of teasing welcome. (At least, more welcoming and less condescending than saying "Isn't that cute!") I vaguely remember my grandmother saying it too, in the same affectionate tone. I've always taken it for granted as a family saying. Interesting to see the history and variations of it now.
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