3 ms·

I think that saying way pre-dates even the existence of Twitter, but the point stands.

geodel 3y ago
Maybe for Twitter, its re-tweets continue until morale improves.
oooyay 3y ago
It comes from the Navy insofar as I can tell: "... and all liberty is cancelled until morale improves." https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.c2582589&seq=737 https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.c2582589&seq=737
CSMastermind 3y ago
Similar phrases have been in circulation since at least the 1700s including a similar passage in Voltaire's Candide: "But in this country it is good to kill an Admiral from time to time to encourage the others." In 1863 the words of Voltaire were alluded to in a memoir by Lord William Pitt Lennox who described the hazing experienced by pupils at the Westminster School in England: "...of having a flogging, to encourage the others, as a Frenchman said of the execution of Admiral Byng." The first known reference to the specific wording "...until morale improves" dates to a 1961 US Navy comic: https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.c2582589&seq=737 https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.c2582589&seq=737 After that cartoon was published we see many different variations on the phase pop up such as, "The layoffs will continue until morale improves" from 1964. The first reference to the specific phrase, "The beatings will continue until morale improves" is from a 1989 Usenet post on soc.culture.nordic: https://www.usenetarchives.com/view.php?id=soc.culture.nordic&mid=PDg1OThAanVuZS5jcy53YXNoaW5ndG9uLmVkdT4 https://www.usenetarchives.com/view.php?id=soc.culture.nordi... It's almost certainly older than that though because it's said as if it were a common phrase by that point.
darth_avocado 3y ago
Ohh yeah, definitely. I mentioned it in the context of perpetual layoffs. Almost every Friday, you’d have more people laid off because the company didn’t magically double its revenue since the previous Friday.

Maybe for Twitter, its re-tweets continue until morale improves.

It comes from the Navy insofar as I can tell: "... and all liberty is cancelled until morale improves." https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.c2582589&seq=737 https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.c2582589&seq=737

CSMastermind 3y ago

Similar phrases have been in circulation since at least the 1700s including a similar passage in Voltaire's Candide: "But in this country it is good to kill an Admiral from time to time to encourage the others." In 1863 the words of Voltaire were alluded to in a memoir by Lord William Pitt Lennox who described the hazing experienced by pupils at the Westminster School in England: "...of having a flogging, to encourage the others, as a Frenchman said of the execution of Admiral Byng." The first known reference to the specific wording "...until morale improves" dates to a 1961 US Navy comic: https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.c2582589&seq=737 https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.c2582589&seq=737 After that cartoon was published we see many different variations on the phase pop up such as, "The layoffs will continue until morale improves" from 1964. The first reference to the specific phrase, "The beatings will continue until morale improves" is from a 1989 Usenet post on soc.culture.nordic: https://www.usenetarchives.com/view.php?id=soc.culture.nordic&mid=PDg1OThAanVuZS5jcy53YXNoaW5ndG9uLmVkdT4 https://www.usenetarchives.com/view.php?id=soc.culture.nordi... It's almost certainly older than that though because it's said as if it were a common phrase by that point.

darth_avocado 3y ago

Ohh yeah, definitely. I mentioned it in the context of perpetual layoffs. Almost every Friday, you’d have more people laid off because the company didn’t magically double its revenue since the previous Friday.