MSM. was Re: TMI

Benjamin Zimmer bgzimmer at BABEL.LING.UPENN.EDU
Sun Oct 25 21:54:21 UTC 2009


On Sun, Oct 25, 2009 at 2:04 PM, Wilson Gray wrote:
>
> FWIW, Wilson used "TMI" in an e-mail to a personal friend back in '06.
> Later, he used this in an e-mail to Gerald "G" Cohen, wherein he did
> not explain the term, assuming that G was already totally familiar
> with it. Even back in '06, "TMI" wasn't new, being already so old that
> Wilson has no memory of when he first encountered "TMI" used as cited
> by Jon.

For some, it was newish about a decade earlier. A youthful source told
the Macon Telegraph & News on May 12, 1997, "You say [TMI] whenever
someone informs you of something extremely personal or gross."


--Ben Zimmer

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