Antedating of "Unquote"

[Benjamin Zimmer]

On Sat, 18 Dec 2004 20:37:23 -0500, Fred Shapiro <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
wrote:

>unquote (OED 1935)
>
>1927 F. Scott Fitzgerald _Telegram to Harold Ober_ 14 July in Linda
>Rosenkrantz _Telegram!_ (2003) 66  WOULD POST BE INTERESTED IN ARTICLE
>TITLE QUOTE SISSY AMERICA UNQUOTE.

Charleroi (Pennsylvania) Mail, Oct 1, 1917, p. 2, col. 3
Quota, Quote and Unquote.
"Why did it take so long to fill the quotas?" said William Hennessey of
the fifth division, repeating a question. "There's a lot of reasons," he
answered. "You've got to pay proper respect to Washington by reading all
of their orders. Listen to this one about the examination of teeth:
"Repeat following telegram to local boards at once: Period quote physical
regulations comma line seven from the bottom substitute quote or unquote
for
quote and unquote between quote side unquote and unquote two above unquote
period, in other words comma man must have two teeth in opposition on one
side or the other." -- Chicago Herald.


--Ben Zimmer