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<font size=3>The earliest quote in the OED (as of 1989) is<br>
1909 Ann. Rep. Bd. Educ. (Columbus, Ohio) 168 The Board has declared
itself in favour of the *Junior High School System.<br><br>
So the "system" was in existence (at least as a proposal)
somewhere before the Columbus, Ohio, Board decided to adopt it. We
all know how slow Boards of Education are in adopting new and better
ideas. And just how quickly could something become a fad (in
1909)?<br><br>
YEAR NUMBER TOTAL (I should really count only males, but ...)<br>
BORN BORN<br>
1908 -- 38 Juniors, 1843006 records, .0021 %<br>
1907 -- 40 Juniors, 1800103 records, .0022 %<br>
1906 -- 38 Juniors.<br>
1905 -- 33 Juniors, 1684770 records, .0020 %<br>
1904 -- 25 Juniors.<br>
1903 -- 24 Juniors.<br>
1902 -- 38 Juniors. 1511799 records, .0025 %<br>
1901 -- 26 Juniors.<br>
1900 -- 20 Juniors, 1426212 records, .0014 %<br>
...<br>
1895 -- 12 Juniors, 1168736 records, .0010 %<br><br>
I vote for 1902! :-)<br>
Joel<br><br>
<br>
At 1/9/2010 10:00 PM, Sam Clements wrote:<br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite="">Just to offer some
information--<br><br>
Assuming that OED is correct, you can search the SSDI, Social Security
Death Index, for "first name=junior" from birth year
1908.<br><br>
You get 33 hits. <br><br>
So, if indeed "Junior High" was "invented" in 1909,
someone, somewhere thought about naming their bouncing baby boy
"junior" before it became a fad.<br><br>
Sam Clements<br>
----- Original Message ----- <br>
From: Joel S. Berson <br>
To: ADS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <br>
Sent: Saturday, January 09, 2010 09:58<br>
Subject: Re: Junior High<br><br>
<br>
At 1/9/2010 09:38 AM, Bill Palmer wrote:<br><br>
Today's Raleigh News & Observer reveals that in
1921, Mr & Mrs. Loomis High of Wilson NC named their new little boy
"Junior".<br><br>
I wondered, so ... the OED's earliest citation for "junior
high school" is 1909. Like other fads, it was probably popular
for a while.<br><br>
Joel ------------------------------------------------------------
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