Antedating of "Chocoholic"

[Garson O'Toole]

Thanks to Fred for his compliment and for pointing out the information
about the –aholic –holic suffix in the OED.

Thanks to Doug for many wonderful early citations for the suffix. Here
is an instance in 1949 that corresponds to a specific version of the
later 1957 fishaholic.

Cite: 1949 August 03, Repository [The Canton Repository], Once Over by
H. I. Phillips, Page 6, Column 7, Canton, Ohio. (GenealogyBank)

[Begin excerpt]

Bassaholics Anonymous

This is the fishing season. It is so disappointing generally that
Elmer Twitchell, eminent angler, egg candler and checkers player, is
now organizing a new society, Striped Bass Fishermen Anonymous. ...

Elmer interrupted. "But the next day he wants another. In no time he
is tottering from the house to the water front, a shadow of his old
self. He tries to taper off, but he can't do it. He becomes a
bassaholic."

[End excerpt]   (OCR errors and typos possible)

This was found with a non-systematic pattern search and earlier cites
are possible.
Garson

On Mon, Mar 19, 2012 at 5:24 PM, Douglas G. Wilson <douglas at nb.net> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Douglas G. Wilson" <douglas at NB.NET>
> Subject:      Re: Antedating of "Chocoholic"
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> More:
>
>  From N'archive:
>
> ----------
>
> _Corpus Christi [TX] Caller-Times_, 23 June 1957: p. '47':
>
> <<[title] A FISHAHOLIC, NO LESS / Athletic Director Chatter Allen
> Addicted To Fishing / .... / ".... I couldn't give up fishing because
> I'm what you might call a fishaholic, to coin a word.">>
>
> ----------
>
> _San Antonio Express_, 18 May 1959: p. 1-B ('13'):
>
> <<[title] ANN LANDERS SAYS: Wife of Bridge-aholic Should Call His Hand /
> Dear Ann: My husband is so crazy over bridge that .... / Dear ...: Your
> husband is a "bridge-aholic". ....>>
>
> ----------
>
> _Florence [SC] Morning News_, 6 March 1960: p. '5':
>
> <<This poor man is definitely a pepsiholic [...?] averages from ten of
> the tall drinks per day on upward, according to his purse. .... "Buy me
> a pepsi?" ....>>
>
> [I suppose this refers to Pepsi-Cola although there is no capitalization
> anywhere in the piece ... or is "pepsi" a regional word for "soda-pop"
> in general?]
>
> ----------
>
> -- Doug Wilson
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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