"zilch" antedating (1956)

[Jonathan Lighter]

FWIW, both "Zilch" and "Zorch" ('50s lingo for "rad") are genuine surnames.

JL

On Thu, Oct 15, 2009 at 1:31 PM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: "zilch" antedating (1956)
>
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>
> Undoubtedly true.
>
> [1935 _Esquire's Bedroom Companion_  (N.Y.: Sterling) 79: There was a young
> lady named Syney, Nancy, Gretil, Billy, Toots, Frances, Zilch.]
>
> [1938 Lewis Lawes _Invisible Stripes __ 114 (N.Y.: Farrar & Rinehart): This
> an' that happened. Joe said this an' Zilch said that.]
>
> 1964, in _Time_ (Jan. 1, 1965) 56: A _zilch_ is a total loss, and so is a
> _wimp_..._gink_ [etc.].
>
> JL
> On Thu, Oct 15, 2009 at 1:15 PM, Stephen Goranson <goranson at duke.edu>
> wrote:
>
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> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Stephen Goranson <goranson at DUKE.EDU>
> > Subject:      "zilch" antedating (1956)
> >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > OED online has 1966
> >
> > July 1956 Popular Mechanics 106.1, "We'll Conquer Antarctica With Wings"
> by
> > Richard F. Dempewolff,  page 74 col. 2
> > "What are the chances for rescue?"
> > "Zilch!" somebody muttered.
> >
> > (As OED may possibly seem to suggest [with two bracketed quotes], despite
> > "origin uncertain," there may have been a development from comic
> characters
> > such as Joe Zilch, a nobody, as it were[n't], a non-entity, to nothing.)
> >
> > Stephen Goranson
> > http://www.duke.edu/~goranson
> >
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