Doughnut Hole (or, when will William Safire retire?)

[Bapopik at AOL.COM]

William Safire's Sunday New York Times "On Language" column discusses the  
doughnut hole:
...
...
    
_http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/25/magazine/25wwlnsafire.t.html?ref=magazine_ 
(http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/25/magazine/25wwlnsafire.t.html?ref=magazine) 
 
On March 18, 1886, an anonymous  reader of The Boston Globe wrote to the 
editor, “Can a man get fat on a diet of  doughnut holes?” The reader promptly 
answered his own question: “Doughnut holes  can only be introduced into the 
stomach by swallowing the doughnut whole.” 
Yuk, yuk, went the 19th-century editor, who then courageously printed the  
letter. This bit of history was provided to On Language by Fred Shapiro, bulldog 
 editor of the _Yale_ 
(http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/y/yale_university/index.html?inline=nyt-org)  Book of Quotations, 
who set a javert of search  engines whirring in responding to my query for the 
first printed use of doughnut hole. 
(...) 
I am grateful to AARP for providing the earliest citation it could find of  
the masterly metaphor: on July 12, 2001, Representative _Billy Tauzin_ 
(http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/t/billy_tauzin/index.html?i
nline=nyt-per) , then chairman of the House Committee on  Energy and 
Commerce, told Congress of an addition to a bill passed the previous  year “to cover 
what is known as the hole in the  doughnut.”  
... 
... 
On September 28, 2006, right here on ADS-L, Ben Zimmer wrote this: 
... 
>I see Congressional debate about "the hole in the doughnut/donut"  from
>2001 and "the doughnut/donut hole" from  2002.


>www.senate.gov/~finance/032201tntest.pdf
>"Improving  Prescription Drug Coverage: Opportunities and Challenges
>for Reform",  Hearing on Prescription Drugs and Medicare Financing,
>Senate Finance  Committee, Mar. 22, 2001
>The "Hole in the Donut": Many proposals would  cover expenses up to a
>specified amount, but leave a gap in coverage  between the benefit
>limit and the level of drug expenditures required to  qualify for
>catastrophic protection. 
... 
March 22, 2001 is before July 12, 2001. Safire could have found this out if  
only he had an assistant who reads ADS-L, as he had in the past. Or, Safire  
could check ADS-L messages himself. Or, he could check the ADS-L archives. He  
did none of that. 
... 
Now, Safire could easily correct this immediately in his next column and  
give credit to Ben Zimmer, but we know this won't happen. Ben Zimmer could write  
to New York Times Corrections, but we know they won't correct anything. And 
Ben  Zimmer could write a letter to the editor, but we know that it won't get  
published. 
.. 
We all make errors, but showing disrespect to readers and colleagues is much  
worse. It cannot be easily forgiven. 
... 
Fred Shapiro did a great job finding that March 18, 1886 "doughnut hole." I  
had posted it here on ADS-L on March 7, 2005. Thanks a lot! 
... 
If William Safire ever does a column on the "hamburger," tell him to go to  
Louis' Lunch and make the usual stuff up.  

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