Antedating of "Soap Opera"

[Fred Shapiro]

On Sat, 6 Jan 2007, Bapopik at AOL.COM wrote:

> If anyone has better cites on the "horse opera" and the "soap opera,"  please
> send them along. Did Adam Forepaugh's circus coin "horse opera"?

Here's a one-day antedating of "soap opera":

soap opera (OED 13 Nov. 1939)

1939 _N.Y. Times_ 12 Nov. 139 (ProQuest Historical Newspapers)  That sort
of thing, the elite think, went out with sound -- or, at least, with the
radio "soap operas."

Fred Shapiro


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