Q: Coiner of "power nap"?

[Joel S. Berson]

On NPR just after the change to daylight savings time, there was a
piece about how to recover from the loss of sleep.  I heard a
reference to a "Mott", or "Moch", or some such, at Cornell, who
claimed to have coined the phrase "power nap".

The OED draft rev. March 2010 has as its earliest "1986 Chicago
Tribune (Nexis) 4 May 1 He attended a party until the wee hours. He
had a horse to work, so instead of catching a *power nap, he went
directly to the barns at 4.30 a.m., replete in tuxedo and spats."

Is Mr. M---'s claim supported?  (And did the horsy set at Cornell
also party hard?)

Or does "power nap" go back to 1936, in The New Yorker, Vol. 12,
issue 2, page 80, col. 2, snippet view:

Boulware is so drunk and so terrified that he collapses (or, as one
of the policemen puts it, "is so boxed, his response is to take a
little power nap on the sidewalk"), while Cash does the right thing
and hands over his wallet.

(Not the more recent sense, however! of "a brief but refreshing nap,
esp. one taken during a long working day to restore alertness".)

But there may be an instance from 1985.  The Joy of Stress - Page
87.  Hanson, Peter G. (Peter George), Schemenauer, Elma, Hanson. 1985
- 223 pages.  (GB)  WorldCat lists "The joy of stress : how to live
well past 100 or die trying!", (c) 1985.  Sniippet view:

But if you find that your current levels of stress are too high for
even these methods, then you should have an ace up your sleeve: the power nap.

Joel

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