"gay agenda"

Geoffrey Nunberg nunberg at CSLI.STANFORD.EDU
Sun Jul 6 18:38:44 UTC 2003


>---------------------- Information from the mail header
>-----------------------
>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>Poster:       Barnhart <ADS-L at HIGHLANDS.COM>
>Subject:      Re: "gay agenda"
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>(1) _hidden agenda_ appeared first in The Macquarie Dictionary of New
>Words (c. 1990) with an e.q. of 1983.
>(2) The phrase appears in Oxford Dictionary of New Words (c. 1991) with
>an e.q. of 1986.
>(3) _pre-agenda_ appeared in The Barnhart Dictionary Companion (c.
>1988) with an e.q. of 1979.
>(4) _Agenda 21_, dealing with the Rio Conference in 1992 appeared in
>Oxford Dictionary of New Words (Vol. 2, c. 1997), e.q. 1992.
>
>There may be some connection for _hidden agenda_ in OEDs (def. 1.b.)
>for (_the_) _hidden hand_, meaning "secret or occult influence, esp. of
>a malignant character."  There is a citation there from 1870.
>
>David Barnhart
>
>barnhart at highlands.com

The sense I haven't been able to find recorded is the "datebook" use.

Geoff Nunberg



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