Meaning
A warning that a contest, process, or venture is not truly finished, and its result cannot be safely assumed, until the very end; however inevitable an outcome looks, it can still change. Common in sport, politics, and business, it cautions against premature celebration or premature concession. Informal and colloquial; the ain't form is traditional. Avoid repeating the Dan Cook attribution, since the 1976 evidence predates him. Regional use: American English.
Origin
The best-documented early use is in the Dallas Morning News of 10 March 1976: at the Southwest Conference basketball tournament, after Texas A&M tied Texas Tech 72-72, Tech sports information director Ralph Carpenter quipped, 'Right... the opera ain't over until the fat lady sings' - a find credited to the quotation researcher Fred R. Shapiro and published in his Yale Book of Quotations, with a press-box witness recalling it as vintage Carpenter, coined on the spot. For years the saying was credited to the San Antonio broadcaster Dan Cook, who used it during the June 1978 NBA playoffs, but that postdates Carpenter and Shapiro treats it as a notable example of misattribution. Word Histories traces an antecedent chain of church-ain't-out-till-the-singing-is-over sayings in US newspapers from 1872 onward, with church fat-lady versions appearing by early 1976. The popular link to the ample Brunhilde who closes Wagner's Ring is documented only as a common association, with the staging detail flagged as unsourced.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- it's not over until the fat lady sings
- the fat lady hasn't sung yet
- the opera ain't over until the fat lady sings
Usage Examples
- The Wildcats led by twelve at the break, but their coach told reporters it is not over till the fat lady sings.
- Sales have tanked this quarter, yet the CEO keeps insisting it is not over till the fat lady sings for the launch.
- We were three goals down with ten minutes to play, but it is not over till the fat lady sings, so we kept pressing.