the big picture

[Barnhart]

Dear Crawford,

You didn't receive my e-mail to you sent directly?  So, I didn't get to
the library yet.  So, sue me!  The earliest dictionary evidence, as I
said, was 1919 (OED).

Sorry, if I sound annoyed.

Barnhart at highlands.com

American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on Monday, February 14,
2005 at 6:14 PM -0500 wrote:
>
>OK, so what's so difficult that fellow logophiles can't help someone out
>who
>has no online access to serious dictionaries to find out the earliest
>reference to 'the big picture' or 'looney bin'?