SEPTEMBER 26 - Snug as a bug in a rug? He’s dead, Ben!

In 1771, Deborah Read Franklin (1705-1774), the common-law wife of Ben Franklin, shipped a hapless American gray squirrel to young Georgiana Shipley, the daughter of British friends in London.

Georgiana named it Mungo. It was also affectionately referred to as “Skugg,” a term used for squirrels in general back then, like “Pooch” is used for dogs and “Puss” for cats.

About a year after Mungo became Georgiana’s pet, he escaped from his cage and was killed by a dog.

The Franklins heard about this misfortune and felt bad for little Georgiana. So, on September 26, 1772, Ben wrote her a letter that is widely credited with coining the term “snug as a bug in a rug.”

It said in part:

To Georgiana Shipley
Dear Miss,
London, Sept. 26. 1772

I lament with you most sincerely the unfortunate End of poor Mungo: Few Squirrels were better accomplish'd; for he had had a good Education, had travell'd far, and seen much of the World. As he had the Honour of being for his Virtues your Favourite, he should not go like common Skuggs without an Elegy or an Epitaph. Let us give him one...

Here Skugg
Lies snug
As a Bug
In a Rug...

If you wish it, I shall procure another to succeed him. But perhaps you will now choose some other Amusement.

Remember me affectionately to all the good family, and believe me ever your affectionate
friend,

B. FRANKLIN

Many respected books of quotations and online reference sources cite this September 26, 1772 letter by Ben Franklin as the origin of the saying “snug as a bug in a rug” – which has come to mean safe, warm and cozy.

There are two problems with that in my mind.

First, Mungo the Skugg was not “snug.” He was snuffed. Second, Franklin didn’t coin the term.

In his excellent book, The Yale Book of Quotations, quote maven Fred Shapiro notes that there was actually an earlier use of the phrase, in the play The Stratford Jubilee (1769) by Francis Gentleman. Nice quote sleuthing, Fred!

Here are some of the other famous quotes and phrases linked to SEPTEMBER 26:

• “As yesterday’s positive report card shows, childrens do learn when standards are high and results are measured.” – President George W. Bush, commenting on the the No Child Left Behind Act, September 26, 2007. “Childrens do learn” quickly became a famous “Bushism.”

• “Let there be lips!” – Famous words from the opening of the campy rock musical movie, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, which premiered in Westwood, California on September 26, 1975.