shrink

[James A. Landau <JJJRLandau@netscape.com>]

On Tue, 24 Mar 2009 14:49:36 Zulu minus 0400 Charles Doyle <cdoyle at UGA.EDU> wrote:

<quote>
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?
</quote>

>From 1956 to 1960 my best friend's father was a psychiatric resident.  I distinctly remember my father and the resident discussing the usage of "headshrinker" and "shrink" as slang terms for psychiatrists.  This had to be before mid-1960 when the doctor finished his residency and moved to Nashville.

Our union's contract is, unfortunately, overridden by the Producer's Union, whose rules absolutely forbid the use of fact-checking of movie and TV scripts.  The Producer's Union's position is "it is better to agree with popular perception in the Los Angeles area than to be factually correct."  Or, as the old proverb has it, "never spoil a good story with facts."

Just one example: a Paul Newman movie about a heroic young lawyer bringing a malpractice case.  Judging by the comments my attorney made about that movie, the scriptwriters made up the law as they went along, rather than bothering to consult a lawyer.

     James A. Landau
     Test Engineer
     Northrop-Grumman Information Technology
     8025 Black Horse Pike, Suite 300
     West Atlantic City  NJ  08232  USA

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