"PAY IT FORWARD"

[Wilson Gray]

If the OED wasn't a historical work, I'd paraphrase William Shatner seriously:

"Of course, one *could* add 'pay it forward' to the OED. But *why*?"

If there hadn't been a movie with the title, Pat It Forward, Fred's
post would have been the first time that I had ever come across the
phrase. I'd long been under the impression that the phrase existed
only as a movie title, if I had missed Fred's post. I've never heard
it or even read it in the wild. With perhaps only twenty more years or
fewer of life to live, perhaps I'll die in that pleasant condition.
:-)

-Wilson

On Mon, Jun 22, 2009 at 1:08 PM, Shapiro, Fred<fred.shapiro at yale.edu> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender: Â  Â  Â  American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster: Â  Â  Â  "Shapiro, Fred" <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
> Subject: Â  Â  Â "PAY IT FORWARD"
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Bill Mullins has pointed out to me that Wikipedia has a good article on the phrase and concept "pay it forward." Â The OED appears not to cover this phrase; the Wikipedia article seems to supply some good cites.
>
> Fred Shapiro
>
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



--
-Wilson
–––
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-----
-Mark Twain

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