Re: "Fair Use" Not in OED

[RonButters at AOL.COM]

In a message dated 2/15/06 2:09:19 PM, JMB at STRADLEY.COM writes:


>         4.      Not a point, but a question for our lexicographers:  In
> a case like this, how far back should the history of a term be traced?
> Should we think of "fair use" as going back to 1821, or only to 1869?
> Is the answer different for a dictionary like the OED, which gives
> quotes, than for a dictionary like M-W, which just gives a date?
> 

Some questions have no clear answers. I like what the RDAS does with early 
POSSIBLE cites--they put them in brackets (see, e.g. the entry for GAY--though I 
maintain that they should have put the BRINGING UP BABY cite in square 
brackers as well).

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org