Fwd: Query: Date for "instant gratification"?

[Baker, John]

        Generally, the best place to start dating a term is the Oxford English Dictionary.  Unfortunately, the OED does not have a specific listing for "instant gratification," but it does have a relevant listing for "instant," taking your sense back to 1912.  Your 1909 usage presumably would antedate that.

        For "instant gratification," the earliest usage I've seen is from a 1975 legal opinion from the federal trial court in Manhattan:  "Following the all too common scenario for such incidents, in their negotiations following the attack, the terrorists sought an aircraft to take them to a 'friendly country' and threatened to kill the hostages absent instant gratification."  The full legal citation is Day v. Trans World Airlines, 393 F. Supp. 217, 219 (S.D.N.Y. Mar. 31, 1975), aff'd, 528 F.2d 31 (2d Cir. 1975), cert. denied, 429 U.S. 890 (1976).

John Baker


-----Original Message-----
From: Grant Barrett [mailto:gbarrett at WORLDNEWYORK.ORG]
Sent: Monday, November 25, 2002 5:30 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Fwd: Query: Date for "instant gratification"?


Please repond to the original sender, address below, as well as to the
list.

..........

Hello!

I'm researching a book on the way that consumer items have changed the
time - consciousness of Americans, turning us into a nation of impulse
buyers and seekers of instant gratification.

I've got a tricky request. Since I'm not an Etymologist, I don't know
how to date the beginnings of a collocation's currency. But if you or
your members know how, I would like to request such a dating for
instant gratification itself. --All I really know is that instant
coffee became a marketable item in 1909 with Red -- EE Coffee and then
again in 1939 with powdered Nescafe.

Despite my ignorance, I'm quite serious  and do need your help...

Sorry to appeal  to you out of the blue like this.

Best Wishes,

Giles Slade, Ph.D. in Vancouver Canada
gilesslade at hotmail.com
gsslade at shaw.ca