"Hobson's Choice"

[Shapiro, Fred]

Thanks, Jesse.   I was curious to see whether I could antedated this phrase by searching Early English Books Online.  It turns out that EEBO comes up with the same citation that is the OED's first use.

Fred



________________________________________
From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of Jesse Sheidlower [jester at PANIX.COM]
Sent: Saturday, August 22, 2009 12:55 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: "Hobson's Choice"

On Sat, Aug 22, 2009 at 12:44:32PM -0400, Shapiro, Fred wrote:
> A common phrase that seems not to be in the OED is "Hobson's choice."  Jesse, can you tell us whether this is slated for future inclusion in the OED?
>

It's in OED s.v. _choice_ n. 2.c., with a first quote from 1660.

Jesse Sheidlower
OED

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

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