Date:    Tue, 26 May 1998 11:56:39 -0500
<br>From:    Mark Mandel <Mark[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]DRAGONSYS.COM>
<br>Subject: "small time", etc.
<br>
<br>Barry Popik writes:
<br> >>>
<br>     _Origination of Phrases_
<br>     Talking about "small time," "Variety" was the first to use expressions like
<br> "big time" and "small time."  _Jolo_, when he
<br>didn't care very much for an act, would finish up his reviews with the line,
<br> "Good for the Small Time."
<br>Later on "Four-a-day," "Three-a-day," "Smallest Time," "Intermediate Time," were
<br> all expressions originating in "Variety."
<br>
<br> <<<
<br>So, was a "big time" act or theater originally one whose presentation took a
<br> long time, possibly including backstage prep
<br>and takedown time, and which therefore could only be presented once a day, or
<br> twice at the maximum? Barry's inclusion
<br>of "four-a-day" and "three-a-day" in the same set as "big time", "small time",
<br> "smallest time", and "intermediate time"
<br>suggests as much, but at this remove there's no way to be sure.
<br>
<br>-- Mark
<br>
<br>       Mark A. Mandel : Senior Linguist : mark[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]dragonsys.com
<br>    Dragon Systems, Inc. : speech recognition : +1 617 796-0267
<br> 320 Nevada St., Newton, MA 02160, USA : http://www.dragonsys.com/
<br>           Personal home page: http://world.std.com/~mam/
<br>