No "Oscar" for OED
Bapopik at AOL.COM
Bapopik at AOL.COM
Sat Sep 18 18:23:11 UTC 2004
The latest OED revision has been released, I usually get a reminder of this,
but it hasn't arrived in my e-mail.
My "Oscar" work is here as the first citation, but the long, later
explanation of the origin of the term (provided in 1975 by the same Daily News writer)
is completely missing. The name "Sidney Skolsky" is nowhere to be found.
(ADS-L archives)
032951 03/07/24 21:11 53 "Oscar" & Sidney Skolsky (16 March 1934)
032954 03/07/24 21:40 27 Re: "Oscar" & Sidney Skolsky (16 March
1934)
032987 03/07/26 20:04 55 Oscar (19 March 1934); City Care Forgot;
AMNH's Chocolate
(OED)
Oscar, n.
Origin uncertain; perh. < the name of Oscar Pierce, 20th-cent. U.S. wheat and
fruit grower (see note).
In 1931 Margaret Herrick, librarian (and later executive director) of the
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is said to have remarked that the
statuette reminded her of her ‘Uncle Oscar’, the name by which she called her
cousin Oscar Pierce.
The name was first used officially by the Academy in 1939.] I. Simple
uses. 1. Any of the statuettes awarded annually since 1928 in Hollywood,
U.S.A., by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for excellence in film
acting, directing, and other aspects of film-making; = Academy award s.v.
ACADEMY n. 7. the Oscars: the ceremony at which these awards are presented.
1934 Daily News (N.Y.) 19 Mar. 32/3 Although Katharine Hepburn wasn't
present to receive her Oscar, her constant companion and the gal she resides with
in Hollywood, Laura Harding, was there [etc.]. 1936 Time 16 Mar. 56/2 Neither
Director Ford nor Screenwriter Nichols appeared to claim their prizessmall gold
statuettes which Hollywood calls ‘Oscars’. 1949 Life 28 Mar. 95/2
Grant-Realm Television Productions..won television's equivalent of an Oscarthe first
Emmy. 1958 Punch 25 June 838/3 A quiet scene, with the camera in close-up, every
word counting, and the actors playing for an Oscar. 1976 Southern Even. Echo
(Southampton) 6 Nov. (Advt. Suppl.) 5/1 Ed Begley (he got an Oscar) as a vi
cious town boss whose daughter (Shirley Knight) gets ruined by Newman. 2002 GQ
Mar. 254/2 It's there in..[his] broody scowling at the Oscars. People wanted to
bitch slap him into a cheesy grin.
2. In extended use. Any award for outstanding performance or achievement.
1939 Fortune Oct. 39/3 Our unanimous choice for this month's Oscar is not a
Major, or a corporation head, or a statesman, or even a man. It's a charming,
sixteen-year-old girl, Hollywood's Deanna Durbin. 1941 Time 2 June 82/2 That
these trials..did not keep Producer Gabriel Pascal from turning out a polished
and distinguished product is a transcendent Oscar in the one-time
cavalryman's lap. 1959 Times Lit. Suppl. 13 Nov. 662/3 Once a year it publishes an annual
which is in effect a kind of collection of Oscars for design in these fields.
1963 Guardian 8 Feb. 8/2 An ensemble for spring..which won an export Oscar
last year. 1996 Premiere Feb. 41 He scooped last year's French Oscar for Most
Promising Actor, and takes this year's prize for top Eurocrumpet in The Horseman
On The Roof.
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