Query: "military brat" prior to 1981? (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Mullins, Bill AMRDEC]

Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

Chicago Tribune Apr 23, 1963; pg. 22 col 5
"He doesn't have to explain to his children that their shoes have to
outlast the military brat's next door."

> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On
Behalf Of
> Cohen, Gerald Leonard
> Sent: Thursday, May 05, 2011 11:27 AM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Query: "military brat" prior to 1981?
>
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Cohen, Gerald Leonard" <gcohen at MST.EDU>
> Subject:      Query: "military brat" prior to 1981?
>
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> -
>
> I've received an inquiry about "military brat."  OED3 gives 1981 as
its first
> attestation.  Can any earlier attestations be located?
> And what might have occurred in 1981 to catapult the term into popular
> consciousness?
>
> Any help would be much appreciated.
>
> G. Cohen
> P.S. For easy access, here's what OED3 has about the term:
> 1) The Oxford English Dictionary (3rd edition; online) says of
"military
> brat":
>
> military brat n. N. Amer. colloq. a child with a parent, or parents,
in the
> armed forces; esp. one who exhibits behavioural problems associated
with the
> unsettled and itinerant nature of military life.
> 1981    N.Y. Times <javascript:void(0)>  11 Oct. vii. 36/3   Arias's
style
> reflects his cosmopolitan background-his travels with his family as a
> *military brat, his education in urban schools and at Berkeley [etc.].
> 1991    M. E. Wertsch Military Brats <javascript:void(0)>  x. 321
But both
> overachievement and underachievement by military brats can be read as
> efforts by outsiders to reach out for recognition.
> 2000    Ottawa Sun <javascript:void(0)>  (Electronic ed.) 3 Aug. 16
It's
> been several decades since they last saw their friends. This won't
affect
> spirits, they say, because no one knows how to party like military
brats.
>
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Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

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