tinfoil hat (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Jonathan Lighter]

You know, the more I think about it, the more sigificant that post becomes.

Because by 1982, I'd spent nearly 15 years not only observing obsessively
but actively seeking out popular, poorly documented locutions. I was on duty
24/7, especially since I frequently dreamed about this stuff.

If somebody like me did not hear of a "tinfoil hat" for any purpose
whatsoever before 1982, I'd wager that the connection between tinfoil hats
and deadly paranoid rays must have been pretty obscure. Particularly since I
went many more years without noticing the connection again.

So even if, as may be, pioneering lunatics were folding their tinfoil hats
during, say, the Great Depression, and even if Garson or Victor or someone
else unearths a relevant "tinfoil hat" reference from 1930, it would still
be the case, based on the evidence, that the allusion effectively entered
American popular culture near the end of the 20th Century, and there are
undoubtedly millions who didn't pick up on it till years after that, or
still haven't.

JL

On Fri, Mar 25, 2011 at 4:25 PM, Ronald Butters <ronbutters at aol.com> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Ronald Butters <ronbutters at AOL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: tinfoil hat (UNCLASSIFIED)
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I agree with "completely pointless." A dictionary--even the OED--is not an
> encyclopedia. Hitler had a braun dog. Should that be recorded under either
> "Hitler"  or dog"?
>
>
> On Mar 25, 2011, at 4:13 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>
> > Strangely enough, this jogs my memory and I can recall hearing about the
> > 1982 incident when it was "newsworthy." I promptly forgot it as being of
> > merely passing interest.
> >
> > Certainly I never noticed the phrase again till 2000 or so.
> >
> > The 1982 story may really be the effective origin of the allusion. Or
> this
> > may be a completely pointless post. Or both.
> >
> > JL
> >
> >
>
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