wishful thinking

[Jonathan Lighter]

For those interested, the HathiTrust metadata isn't much better.

It looks as though Dr. Stewart Paton  (1865-1942) did much to popularize
the phrase.  His textbook, _Psychiatry_ (Phila.: Lippincott, 1905), is said
to have been the first on the subject written by an American.

The phrase "wishful thinking" seems not to be in it.

Interestingly, the eminent Dr. Bailey's article (in the July, not the June,
1915_Scribner's_) is actually called "The Wishful Self."

More interestingly still, the phrase "wishful thinking"  isn't in it,
either, though that is indeed its subject.  Bailey   instead calls the
phenomenon "wish thinking" and "auto-thinking."  Bailey (1865-1922) later
became chief of the U.S. Army Division of Neurology and Psychiatry during
World War I

JL

On Fri, Apr 20, 2012 at 4:48 PM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      wishful thinking
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> OED: 1932.
>
> GB coughs up many pre-1920 exx., including some dated to the 19th C., but
> AFAICT, all are questionable and most are clearly bogus. In fact, I've
> never seen anything like this number of bogus GB hits.
>
> These are real, however, from Chronicling America:
>
> 1915 __New-York Tribune_ (June 26) 10: A paper on "Wishful Thinking" by Dr.
> Pearce Bailey  [in the June _Scribner's_] repays reading.
>
> 1917 Stewart Paton, M.D., in _New-York Tribune_  (March 8) 10: Our vision
> is clouded with a fog of sentiment and we have begun to form the habits of
> wishful thinking and wishful waiting.
>
> 1918 Stewart Paton, M.D., in _The Sun_ (N.Y.)  (March 3) V 4: The
> recognition and correction of the insidious and dangerous tendencies
> associated with wishful thinking is imperative if we intend to cultivate
> sober, sane, and intelligent methods of thinking. The disturbance of the
> mental balance caused by wishful thinking may be readily demonstrated in a
> mental or nervous breakdown precipitated by pursuing unattainable ends.
>
> JL
>
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



--
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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