Another WOTY Candidate ("telenovela")

[Jesse Sheidlower]

On Wed, Jan 03, 2007 at 12:40:27PM -0500, Charles Doyle wrote:
>
> I just happen to have been reading the (beautiful) first
> story in the collection _An Island Like You_, by my friend
> and colleague Judith Ortiz Cofer, published in 1995.  In
> that story, "Bad Influence," the word "telenovela" occurs
> several times.  The word is used in connection with the
> young protagonist's Puerto Rican grandmother--but the story
> is definitely written in English!  I assume the word is on
> loan from Spanish?  It appears to have been in use for a
> while by English-speaking Americans.

OED added _telenovela_ in 2003, with a first quotation of
1976.  We define it specifically in reference to Spanish- (or
Portuguese-) language TV soaps; obviously we'd have to extend
this if it becomes widely used of similarly structured shows
in English.

Jesse Sheidlower
OED

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