Books & Literary Life | October 6, 2017

Chapter and verse quotation-citation correspondence site

Correspondence on not-so-famous lost words

From The November-December 2017 Issue

Tobe Kemp asks if anyone can identify sources for two compliments occasionally used by relatives hailing from East Texas: “upstanding and downsitting” and “ambidextrous as well as bifocal.”

Eve Golden is seeking a source for the phrase about an individual who “shall remain nameless, but his initials are Johann Sebastian Bach [or whoever]”—an expression “in wide circulation in many slight variants, but likely encountered in an old movie, one of the romantic/screwball comedies of the 1930s or ’40s. It’s driving me nuts. Any help?”

Send inquiries and answers to “Chapter and Verse,” Harvard Magazine, 7 Ware Street, Cambridge 02138 or via email to chapterandverse@harvardmag.com.

Published in the November-December 2017 print issue under the headline “Chapter & Verse,” in the Montage section.

You might also like

Caricature of a young man in front of red doors, wearing a green striped sweater.

In 1954, Gregory Corso moved into Eliot House. How he stayed there is a literary legend.

Portrait of a man in a denim shirt beside a blue book cover for "Gretal and the Great War" featuring an illustration of a leg holding an army helmet..

The Gretel and the Great War author on how the Lampoon derailed his science career—and set him on a literary path.

Book cover featuring vibrant underwater plants and coral with the title "Under Water" by Tara Menon.

The popular Harvard English professor published Under Water this spring.

Most popular

John Singleton Copley’s <i>A Boy with a Flying Squirrel,</i> 1765

Harvard art historian Jennifer Roberts teaches the value of immersive attention

Teaching students the value of deceleration and immersive attention

Stone building with tall columns, steps leading up, and a flag atop under a cloudy sky.

The University will compensate families of those whose remains were sold and establish a scholarship to honor anatomical donors.

White House and Harvard University buildings split diagonally with contrasting colors.

Harvard Weathers a Year of Turmoil

The federal government has launched unprecedented actions against the University. Here’s a guide.

Explore More From Current Issue

A busy classroom filled with students working at computers, colorful decor, and a bright atmosphere.

Technology

In 2004, a frenzy spread across Harvard Yard in days. Four billion users later, we are only just catching up.

Three hands hold smartphones displaying social media profiles with likes and hearts.

Tell us about how social media impacts your daily life.

A flooded office scene with computers, a woman working, and a pink sunset backdrop.

Undergraduate Column

A College student’s attempt to recapture the romanticism of the workplace.