Snasu (Situation normal: all screwed up) (1941 Aug 18) (early snafu variant)

[Shapiro, Fred]

OK, I figured it out.  The July 15, 1941 _snafu_ citation is in the recently published 3rd edition of Jesse Sheidlower's masterwork, _The F Word_.  Presumably it was found through a ProQuest search.

Fred Shapiro



________________________________________
From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of Garson O'Toole [adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM]
Sent: Monday, December 07, 2009 11:52 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: Snasu (Situation normal: all screwed up) (1941 Aug 18) (early              snafu variant)

Fred Shapiro wrote:
> Note that I found a July 27, 1941 citation for _snafu_ in the Kansas City Star,
> then someone else (I forget who!) found a July 15, 1941 citation in the San
> Francisco Chronicle.
>
> Fred Shapiro

The July 27, 1941 citation you found is grand and fun to read. Thanks.
I apologize for missing it in the ADS list archive when I checked.
There were quite a few hits for Snafu. However, the search term "snafu
antedating" does locate your posting.

http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0608D&L=ADS-L&P=R2709

I am still having trouble locating a mention of the July 15, 1941
citation in the ADS list archive. A search at Barry Popik's website
failed. Wikipedia has the OED cite. In any case, congratulations to
that discoverer.

Garson

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