Fanboy (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Jesse Sheidlower]

On Tue, May 18, 2010 at 12:20:06PM -0500, Mullins, Bill AMRDEC wrote:
> Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
> Caveats: NONE
>
> OED and OED SF Project have 1919 for "fanboy", then nothing until 1985.
>
> Here
> http://technologizer.com/2010/05/17/fanboy/
>
> are details for a 1973 interdating.

Thanks for this. Very interesting.

Though I disagree with the notion that we "professional
etymologists" "blew it" simply because the 1919 example
doesn't have the same nuances as the modern one, because the
definition makes this clear. Hrmph.

Jesse Sheidlower
OED

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