"It's not over until the fat lady sinks"

[snopes]

Comment: Recently both of my city's major newspapers have printed little fluff
articles saying that the term "It isn't over 'til the fat lady sings", is
actually a corruption of "It isn't over 'til the fat lady SINKS",
purpotedly a reference to the 8-ball in a game of pool. The closest I kind
find to any sort of substantiation for this is the below:

"And further to our Monday items about the origins of "the fat lady
sings", reader Ross Chester tells us his grandfather spent time in the US
in the 1930-40s and can recall him saying that the term originated in pool
halls during the depression years. According to Chester, the black ball
was known as "the fat lady" (because the No. 8 on it looked like two fat
ladies) and the original saying was that the game "ain't over till the fat
lady sinks". Over time, the "sinks" eventually became "sings"."

I tend not to believe it, but I wouldn't mind knowing it for sure.

[Fowlplay]

Local sports reporting icon Dan Cook came up with this phrase back in the 70's.

Link here:

http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_243b.html

[snapdragonfly]

I thought that adipose tissue actually was more bouyant than muscle or bone...some nice plump curves makes you less likely to sink.

[Mama Duck]

It's comforting to know that even in the 70's, people got suicidial over the Spurs. At least we have evidence that sports angst is part of our city's heritage.

[A Turtle Named Mack]

Here is an article showing that the phrase is older than Dan Cook's use of it.

http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-ita1.htm

I rather like the church reference as a possibility. Many country church services in the South were interminable in years gone by. There was no 'script' so unlike opera you could not be sure when the service would be over. I can imagine bored kids bothering their father until he whispers 'church ain't over til the fat lady sings.' This also has the advantage over the 'opera' origin that probably as many operas end with either a male or group song as with a woman singing, and the 'fat lady' will almost always have sung several times during the opera, so her singing would be no proof that the opera was over. But in a church service, you are more likely (in my experience) to have a woman singing an anthem after the sermon, and no music once the sermon has started until it is over.

[Silas Sparkhammer]

Hogwash... I'm firmly of the opinion that the "Fat Lady" was Ernestine Schumann-Heink, the heroically-framed singer who was fabled in her time as a trencherman, and the origin of other traditions (or stereotypes) involving opera.

Silas