New political tone in America

victor steinbok aardvark66 at GMAIL.COM
Sun May 1 00:24:30 UTC 2011


I was going to check the OED, but clicked "send" before doing so. OED3 has
the original meaning under n.1 1. (the "other"
meaning--architectural/mechanical--is n.2). But there is an added quote:

> 1997    W. Goldman William Goldman 479   The reveal of the spade ace as
the next card.

n.1 2. is the new one, but only encompasses "broadcasting and advertising",
no "cinematography" and no magic tricks.

>  2. Broadcasting and Advertising. A final revelation of something
previously kept from an audience, a participant in a programme, etc.
>
> 1975    New Times 21 Mar. 52/3   But now the final coup, Allen's
trademark—the 'reveal'. 'Madame, did you know that at this moment you are on
nationwide TV?'
> 1983    W. Goldman Adventures in Screen Trade 291   The shot described
here takes twenty seconds to complete, whereas if you'd done it in two cuts,
you wouldn't have needed more than five seconds. But if the kicker at the
end, the surprise, the reveal, has sufficient weight, it's gold.
> 1991    Campaign 16 Aug. 17   Is this for a theme park? A pub? A cocktail?
A club? Search me. It's obviously a teaser campaign and the reveal's been
lost in the post.
> 2008    S. Drake & C. Wells Compl. Idiot's Guide to Guerrilla Marketing x.
127   Being creative requires a reveal at some point. Some time during the
marketing message, even if only at the very end, the real company or motive
must be exposed.

VS-)


On Sat, Apr 30, 2011 at 8:13 PM, Arnold Zwicky <zwicky at stanford.edu> wrote:

>
> my files:
>
> AMZ to ADS-L  2/15/09:
>
> ...

.....
>
> Ben Zimmer to ADS-L 2/15/09:
>
> This sense has been around for a while, and it will surely be included in
> the soon-to-be-revised OED entry for "reveal". Earliest I'm finding at the
> moment is this 1975 description of Allen Funt's "Candid Camera" (snippet
> view on Google Book Search, but looks legit:
>
> ---
>
> 1975 _New Times_ 4 (Jan-Jun) 52 But now the final coup, Allen's trademark--
> the "reveal. "Madame, did you know that at this moment you are on nationwide
> TV?"
>
> http://books.google.com/books?id=GyRXAAAAMAAJ
>
> .....
>
> OED2 has reveal ‘a revealing, revelation, disclosure’, marked as “rare”,
> with cites from 1629, 1646, 1858
>
>

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