sticktuitiveness

[Benjamin Zimmer]

On 7/23/07, Benjamin Zimmer <bgzimmer at ling.upenn.edu> wrote:
> OED has "stick-to-it-ive-ness" back to 1867 but doesn't know the
> "sticktuitiveness" spelling -- presumably influenced by
> "intuitiveness". Google Books has (verifiable) cites back to 1914.

Even earlier with a hyphen:

-----
1900 J.K. Stableton _Diary of a Western Schoolmaster_ 85 Chap, while
not precocious, possessed what I have called, possibly incorrectly, a
vigorous intellect, but lacked that stick-tuitiveness and dogged
perseverance that in Will amounted to almost genius.
-----


> -----
> 1914 _Record of Christian Work_ XXXIII 213 The thing that the Editor
> liked so much about this man was his 'sticktuitiveness.'
> http://books.google.com/books?id=byT9ZfXSMhEC
> -----
> 1914 Winifred Sackville Stoner _Natural Education_ 238 Once we read
> the story of how oriental rugs are made thread by thread, so as to
> show the child what patience, continuity or "sticktuitiveness," can
> do.
> http://books.google.com/books?id=GqkWAAAAIAAJ
> -----
> 1920 Sinclair Lewis _Main Street_ 199 There's just three classes of
> people: folks that haven't got any ideas at all; and cranks that kick
> about everything; and Regular Guys, the fellows with
> stick~tuitiveness, that boost and get the world's work done.
> http://books.google.com/books?id=66VaLHf1LY4C
> -----
>
>
> --Ben Zimmer
>

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org