shrink

[Charles Doyle]

This past weekend I saw the movie "Revolutionary Road," which is almost too depressing to discuss!

It gave what appeared to be a pretty realistic, accurate depiction of life in the mid-1950s (sometimes on the edge of caricature, perhaps--that sea of men's hats!) .  The one false note that I detected was the seemingly anachronistic use of the term "shrink" for 'psychiatrist'.

The OED gives 1966 for its earliest example ("headshinker" is earlier).  Searching the phrases "his shrink," "my shrink," and "your shrink" in Google Books yields two instances from 1963:  Nelson Algren, _Nelson Algren's Own Book of Lonesome Monsters_, p. 22; and Leslie Fiedler's _The Second Stone_, p. 184.

Shouldn't all Hollywood producers be required to hire language checkers?  Doesn't our union have such a provision in its contract with the studios?

--Charlie

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