tiny, perfect

[Ben Zimmer]

On Mon, Jan 20, 2014 at 10:07 PM, James Harbeck wrote:
>
> I'm trying to find an earliest instance and the most likely common
> vectors for the popular collocation "tiny, perfect," which shows up
> in self-consciously precious writing (and now more than ever if
> Google ngrams are to be believed). I'm finding a few hits as far
> back as the 1850s from authors of no lasting fame. Any ideas or
> data, anyone?

James, as a Torontonian you're no doubt familiar with David Crombie,
Toronto's "tiny, perfect mayor" from the 1970s. Was that a possible
vector, at least north of the border?

--bgz

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

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