[ADS-L] "anniversary": losing the 'year' connection

[RonButters at AOL.COM]

I suspect that, if you look in the available literature for Alcoholics 
Anonymous and other 12-step groups, you will find that this usage goes back to at 
least the 1070s in the sense 'days/months/years since one's last drink/cocaine 
use/etc." So one will say, "30-day anniversary," "3-months anniversary," etc. 
See online archives of the journal THE GRAPEVINE. I haven't checked this 
myself, but I have heard this usage. It is not a romantic context.

In a message dated 9/16/06 1:44:07 PM, zwicky at CSLI.STANFORD.EDU writes:


> anyone looked at this?  it's not in the OED of 1989 (though it might
> be on the agenda for revision).  ah, now i see that it's in NOAD2,
> though restricted to the romantic context:
> 
> _informal_ the date on which a romance began in a previous month or
> week.
> 
> note that this usage has given rise to a kind of retronym, "five-year
> anniversary" for "fifth anniversary", etc.
> 
> please send replies to dan puckett (address below) as well as to the
> list.
> 
> 

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