Sheidlower on "Lewinsky"

[Gareth Branwyn]

A TV writer definitely did not dream up "a Lewinsky" (at least not this Law
& Order writer). I've been keeping a list of Lewinky/Clinton scandal words
and heard the term as a euphemism for a B.J. at least twice around the time
of the Starr Report's release. I'm not positive, but I could swear that it
was also used and/or discussed on Politically Incorrect around that same
time.

-----Original Message-----
From: Bapopik at AOL.COM <Bapopik at AOL.COM>
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Date: Friday, October 15, 1999 1:21 AM
Subject: Sheidlower on "Lewinsky"


>     Sorry for that subject head!
>     Jesse "The Dad" Sheidlower is in the New York Post, 15 October 1999,
pg.
>33, cols. 1-6:
>
>_"Lewinsky" Becomes a Verb_
>Monica's Dad can't really complain:
>She's _earned_ a place in the dictionary
>Meredith Berkman (mberkman at nypost.com)
>
>(col. 6)
>     But Jesse Sheidlower, the editor of the Oxford English Dictionary who
is
>responsible for American entries, requires further evidence that "a
Lewinsky"
>has formally entered our lexicon before he'll include it in the OED.
>Sheidlower, who watched the "Law & Order" episode, is waiting for the
moment
>he hears the term on the street.
>     "I'd only put it in if I thought it had real currency, if it was being
>used widely and independently...not as something a professional TV writer
>came up with," he says.  "I'd need to see an example in a completely
neutral
>context (like), 'Hey, baby.  Want to give me a Lewinsky?'"


Gareth Branwyn
Jargon Watch editor, Wired