roadside bomb

[Dave Wilton]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU]On Behalf
> Of Dennis Baron
> Sent: Friday, December 24, 2004 2:03 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: roadside bomb
>
>
> I've been trying to track down a history for roadside bomb, but I don't
> find it in the oed online and my nexis/lexis isn't working today for
> some reason. has anyone got some pre-Gulf War 2 cites for the phrase?

Google Groups has cites going back to 1997. The earliest is from a statement
by State Dept. Spokesman James Rubin on 22 Oct 1997: "The Monitoring Group
acknowledged that on October 19, 1997, a roadside bomb was detonated by a
Lebanese armed group on the Anan-Bisri road, resulting in the explosion of a
vehicle and the death of its two occupants."
(zipnews.gov.world.regional.middle-east.north-africa.south-asia, 23 Oct 97)

Most of the early references seem to be about Lebanon. Some are about
roadside bombs in Bosnia.

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