So, when a solemn-visaged parishioner blandly asked the parson, “What is life?” he replied, wearily: His task was that of Hercules, for many things-sickness, visitors, heterodoxy and church quarrels-came rapidly up to trouble him. You may have heard of that fretted Colorado clergyman who, with a small salary, a large family, and a grouchy congregation, tried hard to serve God, obey the law, and make both ends meet. W.’s Page, in The Rocky Mountain News (Denver, Colorado) of Sunday 11 th July 1909: They say “ Life is just one damn thing after another,” but this brand is becoming monotonous.ĥ: The adjective used in the phrase is damned in the following passage from The Matter of Living, Loving and Lying: A Midsummer Dissertation, published in W. Life consists of just one damn thing after another.Ĥ: From the column Sporting Editor’s Notes, by “Old Poke”, published in The Daily Times (Davenport, Iowa) of Wednesday 7 th July 1909, the following seems to indicate that the phrase was soon regarded as hackneyed: second part, 5).ģ: A variant of the phrase occurs in The Growler, a weekly section of the Elmira Star-Gazette (Elmira, New York) of Saturday 26 th June 1909: Albans, Vermont) of Thursday 20 th May 1909-cf.

Albans, Vermont) of Wednesday 19 th May 1909, and in the St. (The very same advertisement, but for a different company, W. LIFE IS JUST ONE DARN THING AFTER ANOTHER.Ī successful Coal business is just one good square ton of Coal after another. (This epigram was reprinted in the column Shifting Slugs, in the Daily Arizona Silver Belt (Globe, Arizona) of Sunday 14 th March 1909.)Ģ: The phrase occurs as life is just one darn thing after another in this advertisement, published in the Angola Record (Angola, New York) of Thursday 13 th May 1909: note:ġ: The phrase first occurs in this unsigned epigram, published in the Wilkes-Barre Times-Leader (Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania) of Friday 5 th March 1909: The following are the earliest occurrences of this phrase that I have found, up to July 1909-cf.

The phrase life is (just) one damn(ed), or darn(ed), thing after another means life consists of a succession of unpleasant or unlucky events. I-: EARLY OCCURRENCES OF ‘ LIFE IS (JUST) ONE DAMN(ED), OR DARN(ED), THING AFTER ANOTHER’ The American-English phrase - is (just) one damn(ed), or darn(ed), thing after another first appeared with the grammatical subject life.

Just one damned thing