Antedating of "POTUS"

[Sam Clements]

A slightly earlier cite is found at America's GenealogyBank.
14 April 1895, _Birmingham(AL) Age-Herald_ 21/3

Talking about the United Press "code" in use for about seven years on the
telegraph-to-newspaper circuit.

"In addition the more frequent phrases are skeletonized to the limit of
safety.  "Scotus" is "supreme court of the United States;" "potus,"
"president of the United States;"

The rest of the article is illuminating with regard to the "Phillips United
Press code" of abbreviations.

Sam Clements

----- Original Message -----
From: "Shapiro, Fred" <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Sunday, November 21, 2010 12:54
Subject: Antedating of "POTUS"


> POTUS (OED 1903)
>
> 1895 _Atlanta Constitution_ 30 Nov. 6 (ProQuest Historical Newspapers)
> One night a receiver on The Constitution's press wire took a sentence
> which read: "The Potus today made the following appointments."  "Potus"
> stands for "president of the United States," and "scotus" for "supreme
> court of the United States."
>
> NOTE: This is also a citation that the OED can use for _scotus_, which may
> be widespread enough to have an entry in the OED.
>
> Fred Shapiro
>
>
>
>
> ________________________________________
> From: project-wombat-bounces at lists.project-wombat.org
> [project-wombat-bounces at lists.project-wombat.org] On Behalf Of Suzanne
> Watkins [gilgunn2003 at ymail.com]
> Sent: Sunday, November 21, 2010 11:15 AM
> To: list at project-wombat.org
> Subject: Re: [PW] Origin of "POTUS"
>
> The Phillips Code was first published in 1879.  That would be 24 years
> before the 1903 OED cite.
>
> ------------------------------------------------
>
> Beagán a rá agus é a rá go maith
>
> --- On Sun, 11/21/10, Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu> wrote:
>
> From: Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu>
> Subject: Re: [PW] Origin of "POTUS"
> To: "list at project-wombat.org" <list at project-wombat.org>
> Date: Sunday, November 21, 2010, 4:02 PM
>
>
> But note that the OED documents "POTUS" from 1903, 22 years before the
> Phillips Code usage.
>
> Fred Shapiro
> ________________________________________
> From: project-wombat-bounces at lists.project-wombat.org
> [project-wombat-bounces at lists.project-wombat.org] On Behalf Of Suzanne
> Watkins [gilgunn2003 at ymail.com]
> Sent: Sunday, November 21, 2010 10:48 AM
> To: list at project-wombat.org
> Subject: Re: [PW] Origin of "POTUS"
>
> In the NYT article link I sent lies the answer to the inventor of the
> acronym POTUS and it was not the U.S. government. Below is that answer and
> more.
>
> Telegrapher Walter P. Phillips of Associated Press originated the acronym
> POTUS in his shorthand code for rapid transmission of press reports via
> telegraph.
>
> "...in 1879 he published the first edition of the "Phillips code" -- a
> system so fundamentally sound in principle and so easy to learn that it
> quickly became the standard code used throughout the North American
> continent."
>
> If you would like to see the code (POTUS is in part three)
>
> The Phillips Code Bi-Centennial Edition (1925)
>
> Part One    http://www.qsl.net/ae0q/phillip1.htm
> Part Two    http://www.qsl.net/ae0q/phillip2.htm
> Part Three  http://www.qsl.net/ae0q/phillip3.htm
> Part Four   http://www.qsl.net/ae0q/phillip4.htm
>
> ------------------------------------------------
>
> Beagán a rá agus é a rá go maith
>
> --- On Sat, 11/20/10, Suzanne Watkins <gilgunn2003 at ymail.com> wrote:
>
> From: Suzanne Watkins <gilgunn2003 at ymail.com>
> Subject: Re: [PW] Origin of "POTUS"
> To: list at project-wombat.org
> Date: Saturday, November 20, 2010, 9:09 PM
>
> A look at the history of the term is explored in these two 1997 articles
>
> Taking Notice of POTUS (The Atlantic)
> http://www.theatlantic.com/past/docs/issues/97oct/wordimp.htm
>
> On Language; Potus And Flotus (New York Times)
> http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9805E6DC1F3DF931A25753C1A961958260
>
> ------------------------------------------------
>
> Beagán a rá agus é a rá go maith
>
> --- On Sat, 11/20/10, Phalbe Henriksen <phenriksen at embarqmail.com> wrote:
>
> From: Phalbe Henriksen <phenriksen at embarqmail.com>
> Subject: [PW] Origin of "POTUS"
> To: list at project-wombat.org
> Date: Saturday, November 20, 2010, 8:34 PM
>
> Did "POTUS" start out as a military term, a government term, or something
> else?
>
> Thanks.
>
> Phalbe Henriksen
>
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