multiple, contentious coiners?

[Fred Shapiro]

On Thu, 15 May 2003, Erin McKean wrote:

> I thought I had saved some examples of words whose coinage is claimed
> by several (quarrelsome) people, but I haven't been able to find them
> ... any suggestions?

This is not a case of quarrelsomeness, but the word "yuppie" may have been
coined by several people independently.  It was used by Mark Schwed in
1983, Alice Kahn in 1983, Bob Greene in 1983, the Los Angeles Times in
1982, Joseph Epstein in 1982, and Marissa Piesman says she heard it in
1979; all these usages may be independent of each other.

Fred Shapiro


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Fred R. Shapiro                             Editor
Associate Librarian for Collections and     YALE DICTIONARY OF QUOTATIONS
  Access and Lecturer in Legal Research     Yale University Press,
Yale Law School                             forthcoming
e-mail: fred.shapiro at yale.edu               http://quotationdictionary.com
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