Q: Coiner of "power nap"?

[Jonathan Lighter]

Note well: another search tells me that the NYer never once printed the word
"slang" till 1966.

Likelihood?

JL

On Wed, Mar 17, 2010 at 1:12 PM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>wrote:

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> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Q: Coiner of "power nap"?
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Perhaps surprisingly, a search of the New Yorker Archives reveals nothing
> of
> interest about "power nap" or "power napping," with or without the addition
> of "Maas" or "Cornell."
>
> OTOH,  I get a slightly different list of hits for "power nap" almost every
> time I try, so I suppose it isn't entirely conclusive. But nothing at all,
> ever, for "Jim/James Maas."
>
>
> JL
> On Wed, Mar 17, 2010 at 12:09 PM, C.Braham/H.Hankin <hocaga at verizon.net
> >wrote:
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> > Poster:       "C.Braham/H.Hankin" <hocaga at VERIZON.NET>
> > Subject:      Re: Q: Coiner of "power nap"?
> >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > It's James (Jim) Maas, professor of Psychology at Cornell.
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Garson O'Toole" <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
> > To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Sent: Tuesday, March 16, 2010 11:11 PM
> > Subject: Re: Q: Coiner of "power nap"?
> >
> >
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> > > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > > Poster:       Garson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
> > > Subject:      Re: Q: Coiner of "power nap"?
> > >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > >
> > > Joel S. Berson wrote
> > >> 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.
> > >
> > > The novel Lush Life by Richard Price was reviewed in an issue of the
> > > New Yorker dated April 7, 2008 (online). I think this text is from the
> > > review (and the novel). Apparently this is another case of faulty
> > > metadata.
> > >
> > >
> >
> http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/books/2008/04/07/080407crbo_books_wood?currentPage=2
> > >
> > > Every text match in my search results to content in the New Yorker has
> > > been incorrectly dated.
> >  >
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