A recent program referring to how the vocalizing of a rotund woman portends the finale—in other words, a program mentioning the sage observation "It ain't over 'til the fat lady sings"— elicited plenty of feedback.

One regular correspondent wrote in to credit the phrase to Dick Motta, coach of the Baltimore Bullets who first lost, and then won, the NBA championship during the mid-1970s. Another listener credits San Antonio-based sportswriter Dan Cook. A third listener cites Yogi Berra as the first person to observe, "It ain't over 'til the fat lady sings."

And yet another correspondent, who may or may not have stayed up late watching sports on TV, believes the phrase has its origin in the one-time practice of American television stations concluding the broadcast day with an image of the fleshy Kate Smith belting out a patriotic song.

We can eliminate the Kate Smith explanation as pat but not plausible. And although the sports world has certainly taken to the "it ain't over. . . " phrase, we believe what Yogi Berra actually said was, "It ain't over 'til it's over." Sportswriter Dan Cook did indeed use the phrase, but not until 1978, two years after "church ain't out until the fat lady sings" was attested. According to Fred Shapiro, editor of the forthcoming Yale Dictionary of Quotations, that's most likely the source of the now-familiar phrase, but since etymologists are constantly making new discoveries, we'll simply point out the discussion ain't over 'til the fat lady sings.