"See You Later"

[Jesse Sheidlower]

On Thu, Jan 27, 2005 at 06:27:49AM -0800, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> Jon, Why the hell not?  We are the custodians of language.
>
> P.S.: If anybody besides Jon, Jesse, Grant, & Erin ever used this term, let us know.

Here's a completely unexplained and natural use from British
socialite and convicted cokehead Taki Theodoracopulos, in a
British publication no less:

  1997 'Taki' in _Spectator_ 23 Aug. 46 All I did was lift the
  Ameche. The next thing was instant immortality.

And here's one from Nick Tosches, again unexplained:

  2002 N. Tosches _In Hand of Dante_ 44, I got no complaints,
  really. Except maybe that quick draw on the Ameche that you're
  developin' there.

I have other uses from the 2000s, but they're all self-referential.
Still, I think we can all get away with using it. We're professionals;
no one would dare question us.

Jesse Sheidlower
OED