Antedating of "Litterbug"

[Jonathan Lighter]

Barry Popik cited McKeon's obituary nearly ten years ago as mentioning "The
Litterbug Family" as a mere "booklet."

If the 1931 date is correct, it would presumably conflict with a derivation
from "jitterbug."

For "Litterbug Family," see the Oregonian, Jan. 25, 1953 (ProQuest).
Samuel Moment of the Portland Izaak Walton League uses the phrase as though
it is a novelty. (Of course, it might not have been.)  He also uses
"vandalbug."

McKeon's AP obituary in the Dallas Morning News, Feb. 27, 1979 (ProQuest),
says that her "booklet" was "nationally circulated in the 1930's."  The
Maryland Law was passed in 1931.

JL


On Sun, Jul 20, 2014 at 9:48 AM, Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu>
wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Shapiro, Fred" <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Antedating of "Litterbug"
>
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>
> The OED's first use of "litterbug" is dated 1947.  Paul Dickson's recent
> en=
> tertaining book Authorisms asserts that this was a "Word coined by Alice
> Ru=
> sh McKeon (1884-1979), a fierce and early advocate of highway
> beautificatio=
> n.  Her 1931 book _The Litterbug Family_ was instrumental in passing the
> fi=
> rst billboard control law in her home state of Maryland."  I have not been
> =
> able to confirm McKeon's usage of the word.  WorldCat has nothing like
> this=
>  or other claimed publications by McKeon about "litterbugs."
>
>
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> Here is the earliest citation I have found from searching newspaper
> databas=
> es:
>
>
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> 1946 _Ogden_ (Utah) _Standard-Examiner_ 21 Apr. 2 (Newspapers.com)  The
> sea=
> son of outdoor activities is here.  And that serves to center attention on
> =
> the fact that litterbugs will become a part of community life just as they
> =
> always have before. ... Litterbugs are deliberately thoughless [sic] and
> un=
> tidy.  They can be traced through city parks and along streets and roads
> by=
>  a trail of fruit skins, ice cream cartons, candy wrappers, milk and
> bevera=
> ge bottles (often broken) and other debris, as easily as a hunting dog
> foll=
> ows the trail of a game animal or a varmint.
>
>
>
> Fred Shapiro
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