"Horrible" as a noun?

[Ben Zimmer]

See also my 2008 Language Log post, "Horribles and terribles":

http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=31

--bgz


On Tue, Jan 25, 2011 at 7:39 PM, Jocelyn Limpert
<jocelyn.limpert at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> I've been informed that "horrible" is being used as a noun in a soon-to-be
> published book, a possible best seller.
>
> Does anyone know who coined this usage and if it is now in fairly common
> usage?  Had anyone heard it much?
>
> I found the following at diffen.com
>
> *horrible as a Noun* The use of "horrible" as a noun is fairly rare. A
> person wearing a funny or gross costume in a parade of
> horribles<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parade_of_horribles>is called
> *a horrible*.
>
> Read more: Horrible vs Horrific - Difference and Comparison |
> Diffen<http://www.diffen.com/difference/Horrible_vs_Horrific#ixzz1C65P7gQK>
> http://www.diffen.com/difference/Horrible_vs_Horrific#ixzz1C65P7gQK
>
>
> I found the following in Wikipedia:
> Noun
>
> *horrible* (*plural* *horribles<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/horribles#Eng=
> lish>
> *)
>
>   1. A thing that causes horror <http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/horror>; a
>   terrifying <http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/terrifying> thing, particularl=
> y
>   a prospective bad consequence asserted as likely to result from an act.
>   =E2=80=83[quotations =E2=96=B2]
>      - *1851*, Herman Melville, *Moby Dick* *Here's a carcase. I know not
>      all that may be coming, but be it what it will, I'll go to it
> laughing. Such
>      a waggish leering as lurks in all your horribles!*
>      - *1982*, United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, *The
>      Genocide Convention: Hearing Before the Committee on Foreign Relation=
> s,
>      United States Senate* *A lot of the possible horribles conjured up by
>      the people objecting to this convention ignore the plain language of =
> this
>      treaty.*
>      - *1991*, Alastair Scott, *Tracks Across Alaska: A Dog Sled Journey* =
> *The
>      pot had previously simmered skate wings, cods' heads, whales,
> pigs' hearts
>      and a long litany of other horribles.*
>      - *2000*, John Dean, CNN
> interview<http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0001/21/ip.00.html>,
>      January 21, 2000: *I'm trying to convince him that the criminal
>      behavior that's going on at the White House has to end. And I
> give him one
>      horrible after the next. I just keep raising them. He sort of swats
>      them away.*
>      - *2001*, Neil K. Komesar, *Law's Limits: The Rule of Law and the
>      Supply and Demand of Rights* *Many scholars have demonstrated these
>      horribles and contemplated significant limitations on class actions.*
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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

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