New coinage?

[Benjamin Zimmer]

On Mon, 8 Aug 2005 17:24:30 -0400, Jesse Sheidlower <jester at PANIX.COM> wrote:

>On Mon, Aug 08, 2005 at 05:20:35PM -0400, Wilson Gray wrote:
>> Heard on Dr. Phil, spoken by an ex-husband describing the break-up:
>>
>> "We name-called each other."
>
>Well, this is in OED....
>
>We have one quote for transitive _name-call_ from 1973, and the
>intrans from 1988. This was edited before Newspaperarchive and
>ProQuest, so I will now sit back and await the Zimmertrain.

Here are intransitive exx. from 1960 and 1971:

-----
1960 _Chicago Tribune_ 18 July 5/2 There was little love lost between the
pair before their union; they were name calling in public.
-----
1971 _Bucks Co. Times_ (Levittown, Pa.) 22 Jan. 6/5 Midouhas claimed that
I was name-calling by my statement that Councilman Marozzi had been "taken
in" and duped.
-----


--Ben Zimmer