fundit (1985)

[Benjamin Zimmer]

Just read Entertainment Weekly referring to Jon Stewart and Stephen
Colbert as "fundits" -- fun(ny) pundits. The word appeared in the Oct.
2, 2004 New York Times (referring to Lewis Black), as noted by Bill
Mullins and Grant Barrett:

http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0410A&L=ADS-L&P=R334
http://www.doubletongued.org/index.php/citations/fundit_1/

Chicago Sun-Times columnist Irv "Kup" Kupcinet was calling Mark
Russell and Mort Sahl "fundits" as early as 1985.

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1985 _Chicago Sun-Times_ 17 Sep. 56 (Factiva) WTTW'S 30TH anniversary
celebration on Nov. 9 at the Field Museum will be a gala affair, with
a flock of entertainers including Pearl Bailey, Rosemary Clooney, the
Hubbard Street Dance Company and fundit Mark Russell.
---
1985 _Chicago Sun-Times_ 25 Sep. 50 (Factiva) Mort Sahl, the political
fundit at Byfield's, spends his spare time working on a movie script,
titled "The Last Anchorman," with Gregory Peck and Meryl Streep being
sought for the lead roles.
---

He probably used it earlier, but Factiva's archive for the Sun-Times
only goes back to '85. (NewsBank starts in '86.)


--Ben Zimmer

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