Sorry, this isn't working for me

Posted by ESC on July 04, 2011 at 17:54

In Reply to: Sorry, this isn't working for me posted by Jenny Laws on July 04, 2011 at 09:42:

: Hi, I'm a PhD student at Durham University. I am interested in when the word 'work' was first applied to (romantic) relationships - i.e. the notion that a relationship could 'work' or not. (The dreaded "sorry, this isn't working for me" etc...). I would guess the 1970s but wondered if there was anyway of finding some early examples/ evidence to this?

: I'd be very grateful for anyone who could shed any light on this.

: Thanks,

Item in Walter Winchell on Broadway column: The vice-president of a railroad is wed to a girl 10 years his junior. They have two tots. A few years ago she started a romance with a chap whose last name is like a milk firm's...Six months later they told the husband about it. He said "I'm satisfied with the way things are going. Let them continue. Last week he told her: "This isnt working out right. Ill give you a divorce so you can marry him." The story is expected to break in a few days. Logansport Pharos-Tribune - 22 Aug 1939, Logansport, Ind., Page 9.

"Cry on Geraldine's Shoulder" column about "trial marriage." Reader writes:
But I didn't delude myself that living with my present husband "without benefit of clergy" was going to quell any of my fears regarding the possibility of the marriage not working out.
Oakland Tribune - 14 Nov 1949, Oakland, California.

Elephant Romance Not Working Out. Headline on a story about failed matchmaking efforts by the Brookfield Zoo (Chicago). Eureka Humboldt Standard, California. 06 Nov 1965, Page 3.