faux mitzvah

[Baker, John]

        The Wall Street Journal article on the phenomenon, from 1/14/2004, did not use the term "faux mitzvah."  "Bark mitzvah" goes back to 11/4/1993 in the Journal, though:  "Posh Pups of Venice Beach, Calif., has since mushroomed into a boutique offering biker jackets and even wedding and "bark mitzvah" ensembles."

John Baker


-----Original Message-----
From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU]On Behalf
Of Laurence Horn
Sent: Tuesday, September 07, 2004 10:18 AM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: faux mitzvah


At 9:59 AM -0400 9/7/04, David Bergdahl wrote:
>Dennis Baron writes:
>
>>Wordwatch:
>>
>>I guess I'm behind the times, as usual, living out here in soybean
>>country, but I just learned on a trip to Highland Park this weekend of
>>the new phenom, the faux mitzvah, a coming of age party modeled on the
>>traditional Jewish bar/bat mitzvot, only for non-Jewish 13-year-olds
>>that is starting to become popular. I got three hits on Lexis/Nexis for
>>the phrase -- 2 from s. california and one from Atlanta, but nothing in
>>the midwest, which is apparently coming to this, as it comes to
>>everything, about a season late. Anyone tracking this?
>>
>>Dennis
>
>The Wall St Journal had a column on it a month or so ago.
>
Not to be confused with the traditional and solemn ceremony of the
bark mitzvah, for that special day on which a puppy becomes a dog.
2,490 google hits.  (I suppose it makes more sense to calculate it by
the equivalent of 13 in dog years.)

Larry