"unsuck"

[Ben Zimmer]

On Wed, Apr 20, 2011 at 1:51 PM, Wilson Gray wrote:
>
> On Wed, Apr 20, 2011 at 1:04 PM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu> wrote:
> >>http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=3099
> >>
>
> "... the earliest known example ..."
>
> That should read,
>
> "... earliest-known _literary_ example... "
>
> Else, a person could get the impression that this particular use of
> _suck_ originated with James Blake in 1963, when, in fact, the use
> didn't originate with Blake and no one can possibly know when or with
> or among whom the use originated.

If there's an earlier known non-literary example, I'd be happy to
mention it! :-> (I thought the "known" would get me off the hook --
certainly wouldn't want to imply that Blake hatched the usage one day
in his prison cell.)

--bgz

--
Ben Zimmer
http://benzimmer.com/

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