entitled

[Jonathan Lighter]

The humorist Harry Golden used it as a book title in 1962 (accurately,
_You're Entitle'_, with an apostrophe).

I don't think I heard anyone actually use the expression - probably on TV -
before the late '60s.

JL

On Thu, Aug 19, 2010 at 11:33 AM, George Thompson
<george.thompson at nyu.edu>wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       George Thompson <george.thompson at NYU.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: entitled
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I believe that there is/was a dismissive New York expression "You're
> entitled", meaning "Go right ahead, I won't stop you."
> I remember when I first moved to NYC (1972) going to a lunch counter to buy
> the Sunday Times.  I picked one up and flipped through it to be sure that
> all the pieces I was interested in were there.  The counterman said "It's
> all there".  I said, "I want to check anyway".  He shrugged, said "You're
> entitled".
> I noticed the phrase because it was unfamiliar to me, despite my born &
> raised in Brooklyn father.  The dialogue took place in a part of Brooklyn
> that was half Jewish and half Italian -- a NY Jewish expression?
>
> GAT
>
> George A. Thompson
> Author of A Documentary History of "The African Theatre", Northwestern
> Univ. Pr., 1998, but nothing much lately.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at BABEL.LING.UPENN.EDU>
> Date: Thursday, August 19, 2010 9:29 am
> Subject: Re: entitled
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>
> > On Thu, Aug 19, 2010 at 2:07 AM, Paul Frank
> > <paulfrank at post.harvard.edu> wrote:
> > >
> > > When did "entitled" take on the meaning of "who think they're entitled
> > > (to something or other)"? I've heard of a "sense of entitlement" but
> > I
> > > don't think I'd noticed this meaning of "entitled":
> > >
> > > "I’m not talking about the tantrums we see most often these days, on
> > > the sidelines of youth sports games or the confines of reality TV.
> > > (It’s hard to call the latter ones true tantrums, since you can
> > > practically hear the producers whispering stage directions.) And I’m
> > > certainly not talking about the outbursts we’ve all seen from entitled
> > > air travelers."
> > >
> > > From a column in the Boston Globe (which I also saw in the
> > > International Herald Tribune),
> > >
> http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2010/08/17/a_well_thrown_tantrum/
> >
> > This seems fairly common, even if dictionaries have yet to catch up to
> > the usage. It strikes me as similar to the progression of "fraught" --
> > from "fraught with X" to standalone "fraught" as a predicate and
> > premodifying adjective:
> >
> > http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/23/magazine/23FOB-onlanguage-t.html
> >
> > "Entitled" could be used as a predicate adjective without "to X" as
> > early as 1977:
> >
> > Robert Coles, "The Children of Affluence," _Atlantic_ 270 (Sep. 1977):
> > "Again, it is a matter of feeling entitled. A child who has been told
> > repeatedly that all he or she needs to to is try hard does not feel
> > inclined to allow himself or herself long stretches of time for
> > skeptical self-examination. The point is to feel _entitled_ -- then
> > act upon that feeling."
> >
> > There's also a 1980 book by Jacqueline Carey Lair that is, um,
> > entitled, _I Exist, I Need, I'm Entitled_.
> >
> > --bgz
> >
> > --
> > Ben Zimmer
> > http://benzimmer.com/
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



-- 
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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