To: Chipata
Indeed - I was just trading freepmails with someone who reports that the 1966 printed edition of the OED traces the usage to the aforementioned Mr. Marr. Presumably, sometime between now and then, the online edition - the edition I was referring to - has begun reporting the earliest known usage in English. So, there you go :^)
29 posted on
05/04/2003 9:26:42 AM PDT by
general_re
(Ask me about my vow of silence!)
To: general_re
Okay, okay - it was the 1966 Encyclopedia Britannica. Happy now? Sheesh ;)
31 posted on
05/04/2003 9:36:21 AM PDT by
general_re
(Ask me about my vow of silence!)
To: general_re
"Presumably, sometime between now and then, the online edition - the edition I was referring to - has begun reporting the earliest known usage in English. So, there you go :^)"
I have the complete OED in book form (you should see the size of it!) and on CD-Rom and it does the very same thing.
37 posted on
05/04/2003 9:47:56 AM PDT by
Chipata
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