Bennifer, the sequel

Mullins, Bill Bill.Mullins at US.ARMY.MIL
Fri Jun 17 18:59:52 UTC 2005


Newsbank finds it a little earlier:

LOST CHANCE TO VOTE FOR SINCERITY, STRENGTH
SACRAMENTO BEE
March 22, 1992
Author: Pete Dexter

"As it is, we come into the spring of this election year looking at the
prospect of choosing (if I may change the metaphor) between the
landlords George Bush who, after three years of running the building,
still tries to persuade us that it's not so cold outside when we tell
him we need heat and Bill (Billary?) Clinton, who shows us through his
new building trying to ignore the fact that every time we open a door
and look into a new room, the room is infested with crawly things that
head for cover as soon as they see the lights."


A search on the Lexis/Nexis archives yields:

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (Little Rock, AR)
August 08, 1989, Tuesday
HEADLINE: Throw Hillary into a poll for a look-see
BYLINE: JOHN BRUMMET

"Others say TR is not a tad inhibited about anything, and would relish
the opportunity to blister " Billary Clinton."
["TR" is Tommy Robinson]


> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society
> [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of Laurence Horn
> Sent: Friday, June 17, 2005 10:29 AM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: Bennifer, the sequel
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: Bennifer, the sequel
> --------------------------------------------------------------
> -----------------
>
> At 11:21 AM -0400 6/17/05, Laurence Horn wrote:
> >At 9:34 AM -0400 6/17/05, David Bowie wrote:
> >>Automatic digest processor wrote:
> >>
> >>I may have simply missed this one being discussed, but along with a
> >>writeup on the Brad Pitt/Angelina Jolie movie "Mr. & Mrs. Smith", a
> >>photo caption refers to them as "Brangelina".
> >>
> >>Gobs and tones of Google hits, including an AdFreak article titled
> >>"Are we really calling them Brangelina?" at
> >>http://adweek.blogs.com/adfreak/2005/06/are_we_really_c.html that
> >>discusses it as a relatively new phenomenon, mentioning the
> >>non-existence of Humphauren (Humphrey Bogart/Lauren Bacall) and
> >>Richabeth (Richard Burton/Elizabeth Taylor).
> >>
> >>This leads to the question: Was Bennifer the first of these pop
> >>culture show biz first name combinations? I doubt it, but i can't
> >>think of any earlier ones offhand.
> >>
> >>--
> >
> >Not exactly showbiz, but wasn't "Billary" used for the
> Clintons early
> >on in his (or their) first term?
> >
> >L
>
> On closer look, it was actually early on during their
> presidency-elect.  First Nexis (Major Papers) hit (note also
> the somewhat cloudy crystal ball):
>
> The Houston Chronicle
> November 8, 1992, Sunday, 2 STAR Edition
>
>   SECTION: OUTLOOK; Viewpoints; Pg. 3
>   HEADLINE: Get ready for four-year Clinton tragicomedy
>
>   BYLINE: K.L. WALLIS
>
>   DATELINE: HOUSTON
>
>   Congratulations, America. The election of ""Billary'' Clinton
>   and Al ""Greenpeace'' Gore means continued promises.
>
>   Promise: Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., Jesse Jackson, Gov. Ann
>   Richards, New York Gov. Mario Cuomo, former Texas Railroad
>   Commission Chairwoman Lena Guererro and those of their ilk will be
>   in Clinton's Cabinet and on the Supreme Court.
>
>   Promise: Increases in the deficit, taxes, inflation rates,
>   interest rates, tax-supported social and environmental programs,
>   government spending with its attendant waste and fraud,
>   unemployment (except government), small-business failures and
>   government will be in our lives.
>
>   Promise: Decreases in real (net disposable) personal income,
>   housing starts, military strength, American prestige in the world,
>   our quality of life and our national sense of well-being (so
>   carefully nurtured back to life during the Reagan/Bush
>   administrations after the disastrous Carter years) will be a
>   reality.
>
>   Promise: There will be four years of a Washington
>   tragicomedy.
> ==================
>
> And there were 86 additional hits by the end of 1993.
>
> Larry
>



More information about the Ads-l mailing list