Query: suffix "osity" or "ocity"

[Grant Barrett]

Please respond to the original sender below.


Hello - I'm not sure whether you can help me, but I'm looking for
information on a practice that's pretty hard to search for. I'm trying to
find out when it became a fad to add "-osity" or "ocity" to adjectives to
make nouns. I would think it spread nationwide in response to some movie,
perhaps in the early 80s, but I'm not sure. If you could point me to any
information on the subject that would be great.

Thanks for your time,

Adam Scoville
<AScoville at faegre.com>