emotional roller-coaster

[Jesse Sheidlower]

I haven't looked at that phrase itself, but yes, _encompass_
as I was using does not mean 'illustrate'; I was talking about
the entire sense 'something, as an experience or event,
characterized by repeated abrupt or unpredictable changes'.

Jesse Sheidlower
OED

On Sun, Jan 03, 2010 at 09:31:08AM -0500, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> 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
> > -----------------------
> > 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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> >
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>
>
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