"as far as" 1918

[Jonathan Lighter]

OED's primary ex. of this notorious short form is Fowler's 1926 admonition not to use it.  (Surprisingly, its earliest citation of "as far as that goes" is only from 1905, as used by Andrew Lang.)

  The short form appears in the American journalist Howard Vincent O'Brien's World War diary, as published in 1926 :

  1918 H. V. O'Brien _Wine, Women and War_ (N.Y.: J. H. Sears, 1926) 208 (Sept. 27): Astonishing English !  B------, born in France, speaks language, as far as vocabulary, better than most natives. But _accent atrocious_ !

  JL


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