"lib"

[Geoffrey Nunberg]

I'm trying to track the emergence of "lib" for (small-l) "liberal" in
the American political context. The earliest cite I've found is from
a September 30, 1982 William Safire column in the NYT entitled "The
Libs are Coming," which contains the sentence, " Clutching their
compassion, commitment and concern, the Libs are coming!"  (The item
"radic-lib" seems to go back further.)

Geoff Nunberg

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