"Gasp!"

[Benjamin Zimmer]

On 9/26/06, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> OED misses the ironic, interjectional use of this word, mostly in writing, to
> indicate that what immediately follows should not be at all frightening or
> surprising. E.g.,
>
>   1982 Patrick Hartwell & Robert H. Bentley _Open to Language_ (N.Y.:
> Oxford U. P.) 158: "Every paragraph has a topic sentence," they recite," and
> "every paragraph starts a new topic," as if, say, using two paragraphs to explore
> the same topic or even (gasp!) not having a topic sentence would subject them
> to the writerly equivalent of losing elevator, aileron, and rudder control and being
> subject to severe buffeting.

"Even gasp" is a good search string for the ironic interjectional
usage. Here's a fashion headline from the New York Times, Feb 11,
1971, p. 50:

"Mannequins Were Wearing Those Shorts Even (Gasp!) at Mainbocher"

And even earlier, a front-page headline from the Chicago Defender, Aug 3, 1964:

"NAACP Changes Its Mind (Tch! Tch!) Plans (Gasp!) Demonstration"


--Ben Zimmer

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