The competitive sport of antedating

[Joel S. Berson]

 From the article:

"Barry Popik, a former Manhattan traffic court judge who now lives in
Texas, holds the world heavyweight belt in significant antedatings.
By finding an example of Chicago being called the "Windy City" dating
from 1860, he disproved the popular legend that Chicago's "Windy
City" nickname was coined by New York Sun editor Charles A. Dana,
pooh-poohing Chicago's ability to put on the 1893 Columbian Exposition."

What, the world heavyweight belt for a mere 33-year antedating?  What
about my "piss-house", 1665, antedating 1942?  Just as significant.
(And who says antedating is a competitive sport?)

Joel

At 10/16/2007 11:49 PM, Benjamin Zimmer wrote:
>Another media appearance for ADS-Lers... In the Sunday Boston Globe,
>Erin McKean subbed for Jan Freeman, writing about antedating as sport:
>
>http://www.boston.com/news/globe/ideas/articles/2007/10/14/what_came_first/
>
>Discusses antedatings from Barry Popik, Jerry Cohen, Grant Barrett,
>and me, along with unnamed others.
>
>
>--Ben Zimmer
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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