Who coined "irony deficiency"?

[Joel S. Berson]

If not the coiner, we have the etymology!  From tired blood -- not
enough iron in it.

Joel

At 1/22/2010 01:22 AM, Garson O'Toole wrote:
>Google News Archive displays a snippet from a 1961 review of a vampire
>film titled "Black Sunday". The Los Angeles Times article remarks on
>"tired blood" and then mentions "irony deficiency in the scenarists".
>
>'Black Sunday' Unfair to Organized Vampires
>Los Angeles Times - ProQuest Archiver - Apr 21, 1961
>The problem In "Black Sunday" may be just tired blood on the part of
>the un-dead or, perhaps, an irony deficiency in the scenarists. But
>whatever it is, ...
>
>Los Angeles Times (1886-Current File) - Los Angeles, Calif.
>Author: CHARLES STINSON
>Date: Apr 21, 1961
>Start Page: 24  Pages: 1  Text Word Count: 534
>
>Abstract (Document Summary)
>In American-International's "Black Sunday," things are going from
>unbearable to worse. Now back in Carpathia and Transylvania, when the
>Count Dracula was head of the organization, being a successful vampire
>was...
>
>I cannot verify this cite because I do not have access to the ProQuest
>Archive. The 1961 date is plausible because the 1960 Italian vampire
>film Black Sunday (La Maschera del Demonio) was released in the right
>time frame by American International Pictures. So maybe Charles
>Stinson coined the phrase or propagated it.
>
>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Sunday_%281960_film%29
>
>Garson
>
>
>On Thu, Jan 21, 2010 at 12:07 PM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> > Subject:      Who coined "irony deficiency"?
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > I first heard (and thought very clever) "irony deficiency" a couple
> > of days ago on NPR.  A British writer was criticizing Americans
> > generally for this syndrome.   But it appears to be wide-spread (I
> > guess I haven't been listening).  A quick Google Books search
> > produces a use back to 1977.  Snippet view, in "Canada writes!: the
> > members' book of the Writers' Union of Canada - Page 146; K. A.
> > Hamilton, Writers' Union of Canada - Biography & Autobiography - 1977
> > - 399 pages":
> >
> > "... discoverer of irony-deficiency, also known as the Canlit
> > Malaise, and its cure, transcendental medication. His one-phrase
> > reviews, Un-stable Boy (Equus) ..."
> >
> > (It seems to be known as "the Canlit Malaise" only here -- I do not
> > find that phrase anywhere else in Google or Google Books, but its
> > meaning seems self-evident.)
> >
> > Is the coiner of "irony deficiency" known?
> >
> > Joel
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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