oncer (was: gardenia girl)

[Frank Abate]

Joan Hall said (with other mail cc'd below):

>>
"Oncer" has been a DARE term since about 1970.  It may have been Fred
Cassidy's creation.

At 02:25 PM 4/13/2001 -0400, you wrote:
>dInIs writes:
>
>>>>>>
>Although it may be a oncer of Fitzgerald's, perhaps not. Can anyone
>give him a hand? Please reply to him at the address given below.
><<<<<
>
>"Oncer"! I like that. Much less pompous-sounding than "hapax legomenon",
>and a lot easier to type. Not autologous, I hope.
>
>-- Mark
>

<<

Brit Eng has had "oncer" for some time, but not in the 'hapax legomenon'
sense.

FWIW, classicists, at least, have been using simply "hapax" for some time,
essentially the same as "oncer" in meaning (Greek: 'once, one time')

Frank Abate