"upper-shelf" = 'high quality' not in OED?

[Joel S. Berson]

I hadn't thought of "top-shelf"!  Which dates to 1808, so Ms. Silsbee
is perhaps a late-comer.  (Still, there is that 1993 quotation in the OED ...)

Joel

At 3/12/2009 03:36 PM, Kari Castor wrote:
>I don't recall ever hearing "upper-shelf," but I'm certainly familiar with
>"top-shelf" (such as top-shelf liquor).
>Kari
>
>
>On Thu, Mar 12, 2009 at 11:58 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:      "upper-shelf" = 'high quality' not in OED?
> >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > Should "upper-shelf" = 'high quality' (analogous to "top drawer",
> > 1905-) be in the OED?
> >
> > I do not see it as a phrase or compound.  But here is one instance,
> > under "night":  "1993 R. J. WALLER Slow Waltz in Cedar Bend i. 5 The
> > cool patrician face coming only from an upper-shelf gene pool, the
> > night-black hair and good skin."  This surely has the sense I
> > mean.  Googling seems unprofitable -- too much cabinetry and not any
> > linguistics.  Can it be found besides in Cedar Bend?  And who
> > discusses the origin of "top drawer"?
> >
> > In 1887, Marianne Silsbee (of Salem, Mass.) wrote:  "The common name
> > of this gingerbread was 'upper shelf' and 'lower shelf.' 'Upper
> > shelf' had butter in it, 'lower shelf' had none; 'upper shelf' was
> > three cents a cake, 'lower shelf' was two; and both were so delicious
> > that whoever chose the one longed also for the other, but youthful
> > funds were limited."
> >
> > Joel
> >
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> >
>
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