guesstimate (was Paul Harvey and language)

[Garson O'Toole]

Victor Steinbok
> OEtD reports that the /noun/ "guesstimate" has been in use
> since 1906--hardly something that Harvey could have contributed, although
> that still leaves the possibility that he might have verbed it.

The Online Etymology Dictionary appears to claim that the verb form of
guesstimate was used by 1902 and the noun form by 1906. OED and
Merriam Webster have later dates.

guesstimate (v.)
1902, a blending of guess (v.) and estimate. Related: Guesstimated;
guesstimating. As a noun, from 1906.

http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=guesstimate


Here is a cite for the noun in 1904.

Cite: 1904 April 15, Chicago Tribune, [No title; One item in a series
of short items], Page 6, Column 3, Chicago, Illinois. (ProQuest)

"All the same," declares the Troy (N. Y.) Times, "the census estimate
is undoubtedly more reliable than Chicago guesswork." Out here it is
considered merely a census guesstimate.

Garson

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org