Maddened by Mad Men

[Ben Zimmer]

On Tue, Sep 20, 2011 at 12:46 PM, Hunter, Lynne R  wrote:
>
> Recent annoyance from _Mad Men_: "Miss Holloway can hold down the fort."
> "Hold _down_ the fort" is irritating enough in the present day (at least
> to my particular ear) without its being ascribed to 1962 speakers. (The
> phrase conjures up a flighty outpost flimsily moored to some low-gravity
> planet.)

Wilson Follett was annoyed by "hold down the fort" right around 1962, so I think
the "Mad Men" writers were on the money here. Follett died in 1963, and his
complaint about "hold down the fort" made it into _Modern American Usage_,
published posthumously in 1966.

http://books.google.com/books?id=KgVpvTpFgU8C&pg=PA132

The Recency Illusion strikes again. That's not to say "Mad Men" always gets it
right...

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/25/magazine/25FOB-onlanguage-t.html
http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wordroutes/2356/

--bgz

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

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