slight antedating: "million-dollar wound" (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Mullins, Bill CIV (US)]

Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

>From Google Books:

Alexander Hunter _Johnny Reb and Billy Yank_ New York, Washington: Neale Publishing Co. 1905 p 549
"In the parlance of our camp, I had a "million-dollar wound," which meant a long furlough with no danger to life or limb."

http://books.google.com/books?id=-7MTAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA549&dq=%22million+dollar+wound%22#v=onepage&q=%22million%20dollar%20wound%22&f=false




> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On
> Behalf Of Jonathan Lighter
> Sent: Saturday, August 16, 2014 2:19 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: slight antedating: "million-dollar wound"
> 
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header ---------------
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      slight antedating: "million-dollar wound"
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> --------
> 
> OED: Feb., 1945.
> 
> 1944 in _Augusta [Ga.] Chronicle_  (Jan. 1, 1945) 1: WITH AMERICAN
> TROOPS IN BELGIUM... "It's nothing much. Just a hunka shrapnel. We call
> that the million-dollar wound up here. It doesn't kill you, but it gets
> you out of the foxholes for a bit."
> 
> JL
> 
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
> truth."
> 
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

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