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Line 8: The phrase originates with the [[comic strip]] ''[[Keeping Up with the Joneses (comics)|Keeping Up with the Joneses]]'', created by [[Arthur R. "Pop" Momand]] in 1913. The strip ran until 1940 in ''[[The New York World]]'' and various other newspapers. The strip depicts the [[social climber|social climbing]] McGinis family, who struggle to "keep up" with their neighbors, the Joneses of the title. The Joneses were [[unseen character]]s throughout the strip's run, often spoken of but never shown. The idiom ''keeping up with the Joneses'' has remained popular long after the strip's end.<ref name="Safire"/><ref name="toonopedia"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://strippersguide.blogspot.com/2011/02/pop-momand-profiled-by-alex-jay.html|title=Stripper's Guide|access-date=12 September 2015}}</ref><ref>Robert Hendrickson, ''The Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins''.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://manof300.com/why-are-we-keeping-up-with-the-joneses/|title=Why are We Keeping Up with the Joneses?|publisher=Man of 300|access-date=20 May 2018|archive-date=22 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180522111736/https://manof300.com/why-are-we-keeping-up-with-the-joneses/|url-status=dead}}</ref> The use of the name ''[[Jones (surname)|Jones]]'' to refer to metaphorical neighbors or friends in discussions of social comparison predates Momand's comic strip. In 1879, English writer E. J. Simmons wrote in ''Memoirs of a Station Master'' of the [[Train station|railroad station]] as a place for social exchange: "The Joneses, who don't associate with the Robinsons, meet there."<ref name=Safire/> American humorist [[Mark Twain]] made an allusion to Smith and Jones families with regard to social custom in the essay "Corn Pone Opinions", written in 1901 but first published in 1923: "The outside influences are always pouring in upon us, and we are always obeying their orders and accepting their verdicts. The Smiths like the new play; the Joneses go to see it, and they copy the Smith verdict."<ref>Mark Twain, [http://grammar.about.com/od/classicessays/a/cornponetwain.htm "Corn Pone Opinions"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130116044006/http://grammar.about.com/od/classicessays/a/cornponetwain.htm |date=2013-01-16 }}</ref> Starting in 1908, [[D. W. Griffith|D.W. Griffith]] directed a series of comedy shorts starring The [[Biograph Girl]], [[Florence Lawrence]], featuring the people next door, The Joneses. An alternative theory is that the Joneses of the saying refer to the wealthy family of [[Edith Wharton]]'s father, the Joneses.<ref name=Lee2013>{{cite book|author=Lee, Hermione |title=Edith Wharton|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xEgqbyOkK28C&pg=PA22 |year=2013 |publisher=Random House |isbn=978-1-84595-201-3 |page=22}}</ref> The Joneses were a prominent New York family with substantial interests in [[Chemical Bank]] as a result of marrying the daughters of the bank's founder, [[John Mason (businessman)|John Mason]].<ref>{{cite book|last=de Troubiand Post|first=Marie Caroline|title=The descendants of John Jones and John Mason|url=https://archive.org/details/descendantsofjoh00post|year=1913}}</ref> The Joneses and other rich New Yorkers began to build country villas in the [[Hudson Valley]] around [[Rhinecliff, New York|Rhinecliff]] and [[Rhinebeck (village), New York|Rhinebeck]], which had belonged to the [[Livingston family|Livingstons]], another prominent New York family to whom the Joneses were related. The houses became grander and grander. In 1853, Elizabeth Schermerhorn Jones built a 24-room [[Gothic architecture|gothic]] villa called [[Wyndcliffe]] described by [[Henry Winthrop Sargent]] in 1859 as being very fine in the style of a Scottish castle, but by Edith Wharton, Elizabeth's niece, as a gloomy monstrosity.<ref>{{cite book|last=Wharton|first=Edith|title=A Backward Glance|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.215864|year=1934|publisher=D. Appleton-Century Company Incorporated}}</ref> The villa reportedly spurred more building, including a house by William B. Astor (married to a Jones cousin), a phenomenon later described as "keeping up with the Joneses". The phrase is also associated with another of Edith Wharton's aunts, Mary Mason Jones, who built a large mansion at [[Fifth Avenue]] and 57th Street, then undeveloped. Wharton portrays her affectionately in ''[[The Age of Innocence]]'' as Mrs. Manson Mingott, "calmly waiting for fashion to flow north". Line 30: ''[[Jones in the Fast Lane]]'' is a 1990 [[life simulation game|life simulation videogame]] created by [[Sierra Entertainment]]. The game's name and goals are a play on the concept of keeping up with the Joneses. [[The Temptations]] recorded the song "Don't Let The Joneses Get You Down" on their 1969 album [[Puzzle People]].<ref>[[Jet (magazine)|Jet]], Vol.34 No.12 (June 1969), p.65 </ref> The phrase is also referenced in the 1977 song "[[Luckenbach, Texas (Back to the Basics of Love)]]" by Waylon Jennings. The Canadian band [[Spirit of the West]] referenced the phrase in a song about [[disability]] in society with the title "(Putting Up With) The Joneses" on the 1990 album ''[[Save This House]]''. The phrase is a line of the lyrics of the song "Life At The Top" by the band [[Bad English]], included in their 1991 album ''[[Backlash (Bad English album)|Backlash]]''. The phrase appears in the The phrase is used as the title of a 2011–2014 [[Barbados|Barbadian]] comedy-series<ref>{{IMDb title|qid=Q123900985|title=Keeping Up with the Joneses}}</ref> and also a 2016 American film ''[[Keeping Up with the Joneses (film)|Keeping Up with the Joneses]]''. The reality television show ''[[Keeping Up with the Kardashians]]'' takes it name from this phrase, replacing "Joneses" with "Kardashians". Line 67: [[Category:Quotations from comics]] [[Category:1910s neologisms]] [[Category:1913 quotations]] | |||