Ground Zero (September 11, 2001)

[Dave Wilton]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU]On Behalf
> Of Jesse Sheidlower
> Sent: Tuesday, December 07, 2004 8:01 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: Ground Zero (September 11, 2001)
>
>
> On Tue, Dec 07, 2004 at 10:52:20PM -0500, Bapopik at AOL.COM wrote:
> > I just got this and don't know what to make of it. Maybe Grant knows?
>
> You can tell her that there are Usenet quotes referring to the
> attack site as "ground zero" by 8:57 a.m. on September 11, so
> she's over a day late.
>
> Jesse Sheidlower


This is a good example of multiple, nearly simultaneous coinages. The
extension of the nuclear "ground zero" to the WTC site is a natural one and
the term was so widely used in the hours immediately after the attack that a
single source is simply impossible.

--Dave Wilton
  dave at wilton.net
  http://www.wilton.net