101

[Barnhart]

Mandel writes:
>
>I hardly expect this usage to be news to any reader of this list, but I
>was surprised not to find it in dictionaries.

>From The Barnhart Dictionary Companion (Vol. 11.2, Winter 1999):
101, adj. {m}  elementary; basic.  Standard (used in informal contexts
dealing especially with social issues; frequency?)

Here’s a course for any lawyer who wants to originate business: Friendship
101.  The syllabus might read: “How to make friends and deepen
friendships, listen well, support others and help them feel comfortable in
your presence.”  Sheila Neilson, “Try Adding Civility, Kindness to Law
School Curriculum,” Illinois Legal Times (Nexis), June 1998, p 7

Two books that take this fresh approach are The Strang Cookbook for Cancer
Prevention—get past the name—and Prevention’s Health Guaranteed Cookbook.
The Prevention book, a spinoff of Prevention magazine, is like “Nutrition
101,” says editor David Joachim. “We tried to keep the science easy to
understand.”  Kim Pierce, “When good health means great taste,” The Dallas
Morning News (Nexis), May 20, 1998, p 1F

Hats off to “rediscovering Econ 101” (Editorial, Dec. 14).  Businessmen do
not seem to recognize the relative elasticity of demand for consumer
durables.  Peter B. Dowling [Springfield, Mass.], “Readers Report: More or
Less,” Business Week (Nexis), Jan. 20, 1975, p 8

Earlier this year, the big media companies launched a new product that
they were enormously excited about—the Monica Lewinsky story—only to run
into a lack of enthusiasm from customers.  John Cassidy, “The Political
Scene: Monicanomics 101,” The New Yorker, Sept. 21, 1998, p73

1975 (but presumed to be earlier).  Semantic shift (specialization): from
101, the number for a college course which is on the most basic level,
such as Psychology 101.

Regards,
David K. Barnhart, Editor/Publisher
The Barnhart DICTIONARY COMPANION [quarterly dictionary]