[Ads-l] cosplay; meet-cute; my tiny violin (UNCLASSIFIED)

Jonathan Lighter wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM
Wed Feb 13 01:01:33 UTC 2019


Yeah, but  in "Grave Robber Meet-Cute," it's a noun

JL

On Mon, Feb 11, 2019 at 7:54 PM Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>
wrote:

> And it seems only fair that the first cite known to man (or to Barry
> Popik, which amounts to the same thing) should be due to Alan Campbell, the
> husband of quote magnet Dorothy Parker.  Don’t know if they met cute, but
> at least Campbell does count as a quote-magnet-in-law.
>
> LH
>
> > On Feb 11, 2019, at 7:20 PM, Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> >
> > As noted on Barry Popik's site (I should've checked there first)...
> >
> > https://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/meet_cute/
> >
> > On Mon, Feb 11, 2019 at 7:07 PM ADSGarson O'Toole <
> adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com>
> > wrote:
> >
> >> The phrase "meet cute" (with the appropriate sense) is used in the
> >> title and the body of a 1937 short story published in "The New
> >> Yorker".
> >>
> >> Date: May 22, 1937
> >> Periodical: The New Yorker
> >> Short Story Title: They Meet Cute
> >> Short Story Author: Alan Campbell
> >> Start Page 37, Quote Page 37
> >> Database: Page scans at archives.newyorker.com
> >>
> >> [Begin excerpt]
> >> The rest of the script is fine, boys,” said Mr. Trumpett. “You've got
> >> nice situations and I like the way you've handled your story line and
> >> I like your finish—we're going to have a nice little picture when we
> >> get through with it—but frankly, I don't like your beginning. They
> >> don't meet cute."
> >> [End excerpt]
> >>
> >> Garson
> >>
> >> On Mon, Feb 11, 2019 at 6:24 PM Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at gmail.com> wrote:
> >>>
> >>> OED has it from 1941.
> >>>
> >>> to meet cute: (in filmmakers' jargon, of two characters) to have an
> >>> accidental meeting which leads to or is followed by romantic
> involvement.
> >>> 1941   A. Boucher Case of Solid Key iii. 49   Last night was nice, but
> >> this
> >>> is today. We met cute, as they say in story conferences; but people
> don't
> >>> live cute.
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> On Mon, Feb 11, 2019 at 6:18 PM MULLINS, WILLIAM D (Bill) CIV USARMY
> >>> FUTURES COMMAND (USA) <0000099bab68be9a-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu
> >
> >>> wrote:
> >>>
> >>>>
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> Meet Cute: Accidental/serendipitous introduction or meeting of two
> >>>> people leading to a romantic or emotional connection.
> >>>>>>
> >>>>
> >>>> Older than I would have guessed.
> >>>>
> >>>> _Modern Screen_ Feb 1946 p 87 col 1
> >>>> "Producers pull it on writers.  'Howdoya get the girl and boy
> together?
> >>>> They gotta meet cute --' "
> >>
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> 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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