optics (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Jesse Sheidlower]

On Thu, Jan 07, 2010 at 11:30:17PM -0500, Benjamin Zimmer wrote:
> On Thu, Jan 7, 2010 at 9:31 PM, Bonnie Taylor-Blake
> <taylor-blake at nc.rr.com> wrote:
> >
> > Of "optics," Bill Mullins observed:
> >
> >> This usage goes back to 5/2008, if not earlier:
> >>
> > http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/05/an_optics_problem_for_m
> > ccain.php
> >
> > I first noticed this usage about 6 months ago.  It's one of my favorite
> > discoveries of the year.
> >
> > And then I was interested (and grateful) to see that listmember Bruce K.
> > Dykes had posted about it in May, 1999.
> >
> > http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind9905C&L=ADS-L&P=R153
>
> Back to 1983 in Canadian sources...
>
> ---
> 1983 _Globe and Mail_ 21 Apr. 7 (Factiva) They say in Larry Grossman's
> health ministry, it's all a matter of optics. This has nothing to do
> with the eyes, but it has everything to do with the way the public
> sees things.
> ---
> 1983 _Globe and Mail_ 5 Nov. 10 (Factiva) The political optics seemed
> right but almost at once the plan ran into serious opposition.
> ---
> 1986 _Globe and Mail_ 29 Aug. 51 (Factiva) After Wrye and his
> associates left, Industry Minister Hugh O'Neil showed up to get the
> Premier's "guidance" on how to handle the political "optics" of a
> series of massive layoffs at Algoma Steel in Sault Ste. Marie and
> Wawa.
> ---

And the earliest example in hand-gathered OED files, from 1988,
is also from a Canadian source.

Jesse Sheidlower
OED

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