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

[Jonathan Lighter]

Amazing and incredible (in the current sense), Bill.  Hunter says he based
his book largely on notes made during the Civil War. Copyright date of the
copy I see is 1904.

He is allegedly the coiner of the phrase "Billy Yank" (which as a
"literary" term isn't in HDAS).

More significantly: no attestations between 1904 and late in WW2 (much less
before 1904).

Cf. the Civil War ex. of "brass" (commissioned officers) in HDAS.

Independent inspiration or real continuity of usage?  I suspect the former.

JL



On Mon, Aug 18, 2014 at 10:56 AM, Mullins, Bill CIV (US) <
william.d.mullins18.civ at mail.mil> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Mullins, Bill CIV (US)" <william.d.mullins18.civ at MAIL.MIL>
> Subject:      Re: slight antedating: "million-dollar wound" (UNCLASSIFIED)
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
> Caveats: NONE
>
> From Google Books:
>
> Alexander Hunter _Johnny Reb and Billy Yank_ New York, Washington: Neale
> Pu=
> blishing 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=3D-7MTAAAAYAAJ&pg=3DPA549&dq=3D%22million+=
> dollar+wound%22#v=3Donepage&q=3D%22million%20dollar%20wound%22&f=3Dfalse
>
>
>
>
> > -----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"
> >=20
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header ---------------
> > --------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> > Subject:      slight antedating: "million-dollar wound"
> > -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> > --------
> >=20
> > OED: Feb., 1945.
> >=20
> > 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."
> >=20
> > JL
> >=20
> > --
> > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
> > truth."
> >=20
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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
>



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

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