Major Antedating of "Smog"

[Jesse Sheidlower]

> While hunting quotations for the Yale Dictionary of Quotations, I have
> come upon a major antedating of the word "smog" in the writings of our
> greatest lexicographer.
>
> The OED's first two citations for "smog," both dated July 1905, strongly
> indicate that the word was coined at a scientific congress that month.  A
> recent scholarly edition of Ambrose Bierce's Devil's Dictionary, however,
> alludes to Bierce having used the word in 1884.  I checked Bierce's
> original article, and indeed it produces the following citation:

Amazing discovery, Fred. Great job.

Jesse Sheidlower
OED