“Don’t smoke, drink or chew, or run with boys who do”

“Don’t smoke, drink or chew, or run with boys/girls who do” is a popular Christian saying in the United States. The precise origin of the rhyme is unknown. “Me?...I never smoke…Never chew, don’t go around with folks who do” was cited in 1948. “We don’t drink, smoke or chew, nor go with people who do” was cited in 1951,
 
Actress Jane Russell (1921-2011) said in 1964:
 
“I go to church and believe in God but also, as the saying goes, I smoke, I drink, I chew, and I go with boys who do.”
 
 
26 April 1948, Nashville (TN) Tennessean, “Top O’ the Mornin’,” pg. 2, col. 7:
Me?...I never smoke…Never chew, don’t go around with folks who do.
 
31 July 1951, Anniston (AL) Star, pg. 9, col. 8 classified ad:
We don’t drink, smoke or chew, nor go with people who do.
 
27 July 1957, Reno (NV) Evening Gazette, “Congressmen Amazed,” pg. 4, col. 6:
It is regarded as a surefire headline-getting act for statesmen to roll their eyes ceiling ward and imply that diplomatic representatives of the United States should neither drink nor chew nor associate with those who do.
 
5 July 1962, “Odds Against Pros Winning Buick BOnus” by Lyall Smith, pg. D1, col. 1:
Golfer Art Wall doesn’t drink, swear, smoke or chew…even if he does swing around with guys who do.
     
2 August 1964, The Courier-Journal (Louisville, KY),  “Jane Russell is 42—And Still 38-24-36” by Ben Davie (Toronto Star Syndicate), sec. 6, pg. 2, cols. 4-5:
“I go to church and believe in God but also, as the saying goes, I smoke, I drink, I chew, and I go with boys who do.”
 
30 August 1974, Omaha (NE) World-Herald, “O-State Attitude Now Accents Positive” by Tom Ash, pg. 23, col. 4:
(Oklahoma State quarterback Charlie—ed.) Weatherbie admitted he is a bit embarrassed about his All-American boy image, but he cracked: “I don’t drink or smoke or chew or go with girls who do.”
 
Google Books
Meaghan
By Jerry B Jenkins
Chicago, IL: Moody Press
1983
Pg. 84:
“She maintains she’s straight, doesn’t smoke, drink, or chew, or go with guys who do.”
 
Google Books
More Than “I Do”:
An Engaged Couple’s Premarital Handbook
By Harold I. Smith
Kansas City, MO: Beacon Hill Press of Kansas City
1983
Pg. 26:
We may not, as they say, “dance, drink, or chew, or date girls who do,” but we may have a tendency to overeat.
 
1 February 1984, Journal and Guide (Norfolk, VA), “Beyond Liberation: The Gospel in the Black American Experience” by T. L. Smith, pg. 14, cols. 1-2:
“I’m not talking about this ‘holier-than-thou” stuff—‘I don’t smoke, drink or chew or associate with people who do,’ etc.”
     
Google Books
Please don’t squeeze the Christian into the world’s mold
By Scott Sernau
Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press
1987
Pg. 18:
They don’t “smoke, drink or chew, or go with girls who do.”
 
Google Books
Classic Christianity:
Life’s Too Short to Miss the Real Thing
By Bob George
Eugene, OR: harvest House Publishers
1989
Pg. 129:
It’s the attitude that being a good Christian means “I don’t drink, smoke, or chew, or run around with the girls who do.”
 
Google Books
You Can Experience . . .
A Spiritual Life
By James Emery White
Nashville, TN: Word Publishing
1999
Pg. ?:
This deception is along the lines of the old cliché, “I won’t drink, smoke, or chew or date girls who do.”
 
Google Groups: alt.politics.marijuana
I don’t smoke, drink, or chew nor hang with those who do ...
Phil Stovell
9/17/99
On Thu, 16 Sep 1999 21:55:19 -0500 in alt.politics.marijuana, ” Matt Tabbert”

wrote:
>
>
 
Well, that explains why you’ve got fuck all to say.
 
Google Groups: alt.religion.christian.pentecostal
Faith.The New Jerusalem and more.Some rambling on my part.
Brian Juntunen
1/15/00
(...)
Usually false religion is the answer for many.  Some may even become strong advocates of the Christian faith and yet not have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ because they still don’t get it, so day after day they seek to fulfill the law as a Christian, they wear the right clothes, they go to the right places or don’t go to the wrong places, they don’t smoke, drink or chew or run with those who do. 
   
Google News Archive
3 May 2001, The Spokesman-Review (Spokane, WA), “Hot Potatoes” by O. F. Oliveria, p. B6, col. 1:
Hot Potatoes doesn’t smoke or chew or go with girls who do.
 
Google Books
Christianity For Dummies
By Richard Wagner
Hoboken, NJ: Wiley Publishing, Inc.
2004
Pg. ?:
The “Don’t drink, smoke, or chew, or go with girls who do” mistake
 
Google Books
Jesus… My Final Answer
By Kenny Ashley
Xulon Press (XulonPress.com)
2007
Pg. 217:
“I don’t drink, cuss, smoke, or chew, or go with girls who do.”
 
Twitter
Tasia Holyfield
‏@tasiaholyfield
“don’t drink or chew or run with boys who do”
12:23 AM - 8 Aug 2009
   
Just:Words
DRESS LIKE YOU MEAN IT: PART 0.5
MAY 24, 2010
(...)
Here in the South, the saying is “Don’t drink or chew or run with boys who do.” It’s a horrible theology of sin, but since it rhymes and nicely matches the South’s moralistic emphasis on external righteousness as a replacement for true righteousness, it’s a credo many adults live by.
 
Twitter
Anthony WagenerSmith
‏@wagenersmith
Moralism in traditional church:  Don’t drink or chew or go with girls who do. /  Ed Stetzer
8:25 PM - 4 Nov 2010
 
Google Books
Surviving Ministry:
How to Weather the Storms of Church Leadership
By Michael E. Osborne
Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock
2016
Pg. 30:
I grew up in the Bible Belt—that swath of the southern United States where most people go to church (or believe they should) and where in order to have assurance of salvation you don’t smoke, or chew, or go with girls who do.