"Diets are for people who are thick and tired of…

“Diets are for people who are thick and tired of it”—a pun on “sick and tired”—has been a popular line since the 1950s. “If you’re thick and tired of” has been used in Gossard girdle ads from 1952.

“WTPS’s Larry Regan says women go on diets when they’re thick and tired of it all” was cited in The Times-Picayune (New Orleans, LA) in February 1954. “Women who go on a diet are thick and tired of it.—Mrs. Fern Lee, Mouse River Press, N.D.” was printed in an Earl Wilson syndicated entertainment column in newspapers in April and May 1954.

14 September 1952, Boston (MA) Sunday Herald, sec. 3, pg. 2, col. 1 ad:
if you’re thick and tired of it, change to Sweet Panel
(Gossard girdle.—ed.)

25 February 1954, The Times-Picayune (New Orleans, LA), “The Column on the Square” by Ed Brooks, pg. 59, col. 2:
WTPS’s Larry Regan says women go on diets when they’re thick and tired of it all.

Google News Archive
2 May 1954, Sarasota (FL) Herald-Tribune, “Earl Wilson’s Broadway,” pg. 19, col. 6:
EARL’S PEARLS: Women who go on a diet are thick and tired of it.—Mrs. Fern Lee, Mouse River Press, N.D.

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16 April 1957, Spokane (WA) Daily Chronicle, pg. 3, col. 5 ad:
THICK AND TIRED OF IT?
(Gossard girdle.—ed.)

Google News Archive
19 July 1959, Florence (AL) Times, “Don’t Quote Me, But…” by Ben Knight, pg. 2, col. 4:
That the reason most people go on a diet is because they’re thick and tired of it.

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12 May 1961, Lawrence (KS) Daily World-Journal, “Theatre Talk” by George Willhoite (ad), pg. 16, col. 7:
Diets are for persons who are thick and tired of it.

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10 April 1962, Milwaukee (WI) Sentinel, “Haircut Hurts His Vision” by Buck Herzog, pt. 1, pg. 13, col. 1:
Sign language: “Diets are for those who are thick and tired of it.”

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13 July 1962, Reading (PA) Eagle, “Try and Stop Me” by Bennett Cerf, pg. 10, col. 3:
Diets are for those who are thick and tired of it.

Google News Archive
15 January 1963, Milwaukee (WI)

Earl Wilson syndicated entertainment column, pt. 1, pg. p, cols. 3-4:
WISH I’D SAID THAT: Diets, says the plump lady dwn the street, are for people who are tick and tired of it. (Emporia Gazette)

Google News Archive
3 April 1963, Milwaukee (WI) Sentinel, “It’s SHear Inflation, Men!” by Buck Herzog, pt. 1, pg. 7, col. 1:
LOVE THIS SLOGAN: “If you’re ‘thick’ and tired of it all call TOPS (take off pounds sensibly).”

Google News Archive
30 January 1979, Bulletin Journal (Cape Girardeau, MO), pg. C7, col. 1 ad:
ARE YOU THICK AND TIRED OF IT?
(Diet Center.—ed.)

Google Books
The Complete Book of Zingers
By Croft M. Pentz
Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers
1990
Pg. 63:
Diets are for people who are thick and tired of it.

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Bo
‏@twitterbo
Diets are for people who are thick and tired of it… 8-)
9:35 AM - 13 Feb 2009