Wednesday, September 15, 2004

Today's OED antedating: "to have them rolling in the aisles"


To have them rolling in the aisles, colloquial, in theater, to generate great laughter in the audience ("aisle," n., sec 5 (b), first use cited 1940): Article titled "The Language of the Theatre," by Bernard Sobel, Bookman, April 1929, p 150, col 1: "Success, however, makes the actor jubilant. He 'wows em', 'panics' or 'gooles 'em'. 'They rolled over in the aisles.'"