1955 "-wise" vector; antedatings of "misty" and "Enjoy!"

[Jonathan Lighter]

Everybody knows that the suffix "-wise" was familiar in the mid-to-late '50s
as a substandard morpheme connected with the advertising business. Less
known, to me anyway, is that the 1955 musical "It's Always Fair Weather,"
seen by millions, includes not one but two comedy numbers involving "-wise"
coinages connected with ad execs.  Exx. include
"situation-wise," "saturation-wise," "country-wise," "audience-wise,"
"housewife-wise," "change-wise," "audio-video-wise," and
"video-audio-wise."  There's even an allusion to that famous _New Yorker_
owl cartoon when Gene Kelly says, mockingly, "We'll have to wise him up,
wise-wise." (At least I think the cartoon came first.)

Not that the movie invented this "-wise" usage, just that it helped to
popularize it everywhere.  Most speakers today probably assume that this
"-wise" is ancient, but it isn't. (Unless  [snicker] you consider over half
a century ago to be "ancient.")

Songs and script by the team of Betty Comden and Adolph Green, who also have
characters say, "People are getting a little misty" (OED: 1957), and "Enjoy!
Enjoy!" (OED modern use: 1959).

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