"Roast beast"

[Allen Maberry]

I recall hearing "roast beast" first in the 1970s although I can't remember the year. At any rate, it was well before 1984.

allen
maberry at myuw.net


On Sun, 26 Dec 2004, James Callan wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       James Callan <jabeca at DRIZZLE.COM>
> Subject:      Re: "Roast beast"
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On Dec 25, 2004, at 12:40 PM, Barnhart wrote:
>
> > Earliest roast beast on newspaperarchive.com is 1984.
>
> ProQuest turns up a 1977 NYT article:
>
> "As family cook, I faced nightly food conflicts. When the mung plate
> appeared, the carnivorous jock would gag and bolt the table. Similarly,
> the sight of roast beast caused the vegetarian artist to blanch and
> announce that she was "totally grossed out" in the idiom of the
> period."
>
> A Hot Stove and...Daddy!
> George Dullea, NYT Feb. 9, 1977
>
> --
> James Callan
> Writer. Editor. Idea guy.
>