emotional roller-coaster

[Jonathan Lighter]

I take it that "encompassing" doesn't mean "illustrating," and that _Time_
is ultimately responsible for this now everyday phrase - at least so far as
the printed evidence goes.

JL




On Sun, Jan 3, 2010 at 9:17 AM, Jesse Sheidlower <jester at panix.com> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jesse Sheidlower <jester at PANIX.COM>
> Subject:      Re: emotional roller-coaster
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On Sun, Jan 03, 2010 at 09:12:18AM -0500, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> > I don't see this cliche' in OED, but I could be blind.  Anyway:
> >
> > 1936 _Time_  (Aug. 10)
> >
> http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,762296-1,00.html#ixzz0bYfD9HN9
> > :
> > Bill stuck to his role as friend of the family, while Jock and Mary went
> > careening up & down the economic and emotional roller-coaster on which
> the
> > rest of the world was riding.
> >
> > GB indicates that the phrase became popular after WWII.  _Time_ appears
> not
> > to have used it again for decades."Roller-coaster of emotions" does not
> show
> > up in GB until 1971.
>
> The revised OED entry for this term will have several
> different figurative senses, with the one encompassing
> "emotional roller-coaster" first attested in 1901. That phrase
> itself isn't separated out, but it is found in the quotations.
>
> Jesse Sheidlower
> OED
>
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