take-home = "(of information) to be remembered"

[Jonathan Lighter]

Not puzzling, just burgeoning. Most of the OED exx. refer to things you can actually "take home."  As in Watson 1968, the novel usage refers to an intangible memory.

  A "take-home message" (like "take-home advice" or, perhaps, a "bottom-line message") becomes effective as soon as you hear it. And you need to remember it indefinitely.

  If I were an OED editor I would distinguish between the literal and the figurative sense, not least because the figurative seems to have taken a quarter-century after "take-home pay" to appear.

  JL


"Arnold M. Zwicky" <zwicky at CSLI.STANFORD.EDU> wrote:
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Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: "Arnold M. Zwicky"
Subject: Re: take-home = "(of information) to be remembered"
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On Dec 14, 2006, at 8:52 AM, Jon Lighter wrote:

> Anchor to guest: "And your take-home message for parents is...?"
>
> Have noticed this a lot in recent months.

i don't see why you find this puzzling; this is just "take-home",
defined by the OED as
(orig. U.S.), that may be taken away home

the OED has "take-home pay" from 1943, then:
"take-home lesson" (1968, from The Double Helix), entirely
parallel to the example above
"take-home trade" (1973, extended sense 'trade in goods that can
be taken home')
"take-home sales" (1973)
"take-home exam" (1976, but much older than that, since i've been
giving take-home exams, called that, since 1965)

arnold

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