Fictional Materials for OED

[Benjamin Zimmer]

On Sat, Jan 2, 2010 at 9:44 PM, Dave Wilton <dave at wilton.net> wrote:
>
> "Kryptonite" probably deserves a dictionary entry because it has
> metaphorical uses beyond the Superman genre...

Here are two such uses, documented from the mid-'70s:

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* Kryptonite, n. '(someone's) fatal shortcoming, Achilles' heel'

1976 Stephen Larsen _The Shaman's Doorway_ 26 There are the
invulnerable men of steel with their Kryptonite Achilles' heels.
http://books.google.com/books?id=C90nAAAAYAAJ

1977 Tony Cohan _Outlaw Visions_ 184 But it was a limited ability, he
had his kryptonite, his weakness.
http://books.google.com/books?id=L-Q8AAAAIAAJ

1982 _N.Y. Times_ A2 Peter D. Hart, a Democratic polltaker, said that
he thought the Secretary's penchant for confrontation would hurt...
"Jim Watt is the Kryptonite around the Republicans' necks."

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* Kryptonite, adj. 'very hard or indestructible, as if made of Kryptonite'

1975 _Chicago Tribune 28 Dec. F14/2 "Well it doesn't bother me a bit,"
says the man with the Kryptonite ego.

1977 _College English_ 38 (7) 641 Further, we determine that the
kryptonite-hard desk surface is there to prevent students from
scribbling.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/376066

1981 _L.A. Times_ 12 June E22/2  [Pete Rose is] 436 away from Cobb,
whom he could pass in 1984, providing his Kryptonite body doesn't
suddenly incinerate.

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I also see it shows up in work on the philosophy of meaning, as an
example of a nonexistent substance. (And it's been a trademark for
bicycle locks since the '70s.)


--Ben Zimmer

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