Eleventh Commandment of Politics (1966); Pol (1942)

[Benjamin Zimmer]

On 12/8/05, Bapopik at aol.com <Bapopik at aol.com> wrote:
> POL
> ...
> Any earlier on this, OED?
> ...
> (OED)
> Colloq. abbrev. of _POLITICIAN_=20
> 1942  _BERREY_ (http://dictionary.oed.com/help/bib/oed2-b2.html#berrey)   &=20
> VAN DEN BARK Amer. Thes. Slang  =C2=A7854/1 Politician,..pol, polly, poly.

Dunno what OED has, but it's been headlinese since at least 1907:

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http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?RQT=309&VName=HNP&did=694174702
Boston Daily Globe, Aug 9, 1907, p. 1/8
(subheading) Big and Little Pols There.
It was a red-letter day in the history of the club, and many aspirants
for political office were on hand to see that no damage was done [to]
their booms.
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--Ben Zimmer