Antedating of "Litterbug"

[Baker, John]

Here's a slight antedating, from an editorial in the Olean (N.Y.) Times Herald, Apr. 4, 1946, p. 20, entitled "Cleaning Up After the Park 'Litterbug.'"  It cites the Harrisburg Patriot, which I assume is the source.

"Warm days of late March opened a new season for the city parks, so far as attendance is concerned.  They also served to center attention to a growing nuisance, the Park Litterbug.
The Litterbug may be either male or female.  He is deliberately or thoughtlessly untidy.  He can be tracked through River Park by a trail of paper, orange peel and other debris as easily as a hound follows a fox."

Use of the term seems to have taken off around 1950.


John Baker



-----Original Message-----
From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of Shapiro, Fred
Sent: Sunday, July 20, 2014 9:48 AM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Antedating of "Litterbug"

The OED's first use of "litterbug" is dated 1947.  Paul Dickson's recent entertaining book Authorisms asserts that this was a "Word coined by Alice Rush McKeon (1884-1979), a fierce and early advocate of highway beautification.  Her 1931 book _The Litterbug Family_ was instrumental in passing the first 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 databases:



1946 _Ogden_ (Utah) _Standard-Examiner_ 21 Apr. 2 (Newspapers.com)  The season 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 untidy.  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 beverage bottles (often broken) and other debris, as easily as a hunting dog follows the trail of a game animal or a varmint.



Fred Shapiro











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