[Ads-l] Serial Killer

[Wilson Gray]

> Presumably the term[, _serial killer_,] exists in that book as well.

Not so, Bill. Only _serial murderer(s)_ occurs in the book, which is
probably what motivated the reviewer to use _"serial" killer_ and not
_"serial killer"_ or _serial killer_.

You may have serendipitated upon the coining of the term, Bill!

On Thu, Nov 16, 2017 at 10:09 PM, Bill Mullins <amcombill at hotmail.com>
wrote:

> OED has 1975 for the subject term.
>
>
> Washington DC _Evening Star_  30 May 1967 p 12 col 4
>
> "There is the mass murderer, or what he calls the "serial" killer, who
> may be actuated by greed, such as insurance, or retention or growth of
> power, like the Medicis or Renaissance Italy, or Landru, the "bluebeard"
> of the World War I period, who murdered numerous wives after taking
> their money."
>
> The citation is from a review of _The Meaning of Murder_ by John
> Brophy.  Presumably the term exists in that book as well.
>
>
>
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-- 
-Wilson
-----
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-Mark Twain

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