Antedating of "Litterbug"

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

There are some database matches visible in the 1950s indicating that a
booklet called "The Litter-Bug Family" existed. I do not know when it
was created. Here is some data from a GB snippet match:

Title: National Parks Magazine
Year: 1953
(GB metadata may be inaccurate)
books.google.com/books?id=GObzAAAAMAAJ

[Begin extracted text. OCR errors possible]
The Litter-Bug Family, by Mrs. Edward H. McKeon, State Chairman,
Roadside Development, Florida Federation of Garden Clubs. Obtainable
from the author, at 7606 Millard Avenue. Ruxton 4. Maryland.
Twenty-eight pages. Illustrated with line drawings. Price 20 cents a
copy; larger quantities 15 cents a copy, plus postage.
[End extracted text]

Garson


On Sun, Jul 20, 2014 at 10:20 AM, Jonathan Lighter
<wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Antedating of "Litterbug"
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> 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:
>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       "Shapiro, Fred" <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
>> Subject:      Antedating of "Litterbug"
>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> 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."
>>
>>
>>
>> Here is the earliest citation I have found from searching newspaper
>> databas=
>> es:
>>
>>
>>
>> 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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>>
>
>
>
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
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