A phrase from historical newspaper personal ads, explained with real examples from the archive.
A request, at the head or foot of a notice, asking other newspapers to reprint it.
| Type | Historical language |
|---|---|
| Category | Formula |
| Earliest example in the archive | June 19, 1926, Arizona State Miner (Wickenburg, Arizona) |
| Most common | 1850s to the 1920s |
Newspapers once mailed each other free copies, called exchange papers, and reprinted from them freely. A notice that said “papers please copy,” or named the papers, as in “Arizona papers please copy,” asked editors elsewhere to pass it on, usually because the person it was meant for might be reading a paper in another town. In June 1926, the Arizona State Miner in Wickenburg printed one under that heading: a wife in Hammond, Louisiana, looking for her husband, E. A. Lawry, and promising that “All is forgiven.”
Sources: Dictionary of Canadianisms on Historical Principles, exchange paper.
Information regarding the whereabouts of E. A. Lawry will be appreciated by his wife, P. O. Box 863, Hammond, La. All is forgiven.
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How this fits into 170 years of personal ad shorthand: From Object Matrimony to LTR: How Personal Ads Learned to Talk in Code.
All dictionary entries · The Personals Archive · How to write a personal ad
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