HTML and avuncular (formerly 1823)

Mon Jul 20 15:53:43 UTC 2009

My apologies -- I wanted to convey the italics in the original, and
since Eudora displays that "nicely" (without revealing HTML codes) I
forgot that some will be bothered.  Next time I'll insert _underscores_.

Joel

At 7/20/2009 10:51 AM, Benjamin Zimmer wrote:
>Thanks, Joel!
>
>(But no thanks for using HTML instead of plain text.)
>
>--Ben Zimmer
>
>
>On Mon, Jul 20, 2009 at 10:47 AM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
> >
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> > Subject:      Re: avuncular (formerly 1823)
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > <html>
> > <body>
> > <font size=3>Once again an early 1800s antedating leads me to EAN. 
> > It appears the _Monthly Review_ was not the earliest go-to
> > place.<br><br>
> > Daily National Intelligencer; <b>Date: </b>07-23-1816; <b>Volume: </b>IV;
> > <b>Issue: </b>1104; <b>Page: </b>[3/]; <b>Location: </b>Washington (DC),
> > District of Columbia.  <br><br>
> > "Perhaps most of our readers are not aware of the fact that Congress
> > passed a resolution, requiring the Executive to lay before the Congress,
> > at the next session, and at certain stated periods thereafter, a List of
> > all Officers of the Government, their names, salaries, and <i>places of
> > nativity</i>.  With whom this idea originated, we do not exactly
> > know; but it would certainly have been more complete, if the ages of
> > these public officers had been required, their situation in life, whether
> > of married or single blessedness; the names of their parental and
> > avuncular kindred; the names and number of their children, if any they
> > have."<br><br>
> > [This article must be a squib cast at the Nativist movement.  Being
> > from 1816, it is I think early in its history, particularly in the
> > political arena.  The Know Nothing party arose in the 1840s, and
> > both Ray Allen Billington and Ira M. Leonard / Robert D. Parmet see the
> > beginnings of nativist societies in the 1820s.]<br><br>
> > Joel<br><br>
> > At 7/20/2009 12:46 AM, Benjamin Zimmer wrote:<br>
> > <blockquote type=cite class=cite cite="">My latest Word Routes column is
> > on two words closely tied to Walter<br>
> > Cronkite, "avuncular" and "anchorman":<br><br>
> > <a href="http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wordroutes/1920/"
> eudora="autourl">
> > http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wordroutes/1920/</a><br><br>
> > The "anchorman" part is a followup to my Slate piece from over
> > the<br>
> > weekend. As for "avuncular", I mention this early cite,
> > antedating<br>
> > OED's 1831:<br><br>
> > 1823 James Smith in _Monthly Rev._ V(25):38 'I take,' continued Mr.<br>
> > Robert Robertson, 'an avuncular interest in all that concerns
> > you.'<br><br>
> > So is it just a coincidence that "avuncular" appears in the
> > January<br>
> > 1823 _Monthly Review_ and "materteral" shows up in the
> > September 1823<br>
> > issue (from a different author)? Was the _Monthly Review_ the go-to<br>
> > journal for whimsical kinship-based neo-Latinisms?<br><br>
> > <br>
> > --Ben Zimmer<br><br>
> > ------------------------------------------------------------<br>
> > The American Dialect Society -
> > <a href="http://www.americandialect.org/" eudora="autourl">
> > http://www.americandialect.org</a></font></blockquote></body>
> > </html>
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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