work 'plastic surgery'

[Garson O'Toole]

Here is an unverified example from Google Books of the phrase "work
done" being used to refer to plastic surgery I believe. WorldCat
agrees with GB on the 1968 date. Date probes look ok. Below is the
relevant extracted text:

Title: The youth doctors
Author: Patrick M. McGrady, Jr.
Publisher: New York : Coward-McCann, c1968.

I mentioned the name of a much-married actress whose silky-smooth face
and coquettish, sexy allure have made her the darling of cafe'
society, top-rated nightclubs, and an occasional Hollywood film.

"She's had some work done, shall I put it that way?" replied one
doctor. "She said she didn't, but she did."

http://books.google.com/books?id=YPlqAAAAMAAJ&q=%22some+work%22#search_anchor
http://books.google.com/books?id=K6azAAAAIAAJ&q=%22but+she+did%22#search_anchor

Note, GB dates are sometimes inaccurate and extracted text sometimes
contains errors. But I think this example is probably legitimate.

On Sun, Aug 7, 2011 at 6:22 PM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: work 'plastic surgery'
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Me too. Ten years? More?
>
> JL
>
> On Sun, Aug 7, 2011 at 6:16 PM, Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu> wrote:
>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       "Shapiro, Fred" <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
>> Subject:      Re: work 'plastic surgery'
>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> I don't move at all in "plastic surgery" circles, but I have been familiar
>> with this usage for years.
>>
>> Fred Shapiro
>>
>>
>>
>> ________________________________________
>> From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of
>> Charles C Doyle [cdoyle at UGA.EDU]
>> Sent: Thursday, August 04, 2011 11:09 AM
>> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>> Subject: work 'plastic surgery'
>>
>> Has this newish usage been discussed here?  (I can't find any such
>> discussion in the ADS-L archive, and I don't see it in UrbanDictionary
>> either.)   Evidently, we are expected to understand "She (or He) has had
>> some (or a little) work done" to be a sort of euphemism for "Her face has
>> undergone surgical improvement."
>>
>> --Charlie
>>
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>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
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>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
>
>
>
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
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