cancer stick (1954)

[Shapiro, Fred]

I have long thought that the use in the 1950s of the term "cancer stick" for a cigarette was a particularly interesting word-usage, since it proves that there was public consciousness of the connection between cigarettes and lung cancer significantly before the Surgeon General's report.

Fred Shapiro


________________________________________
From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] on behalf of Jesse Sheidlower [jester at PANIX.COM]
Sent: Friday, March 14, 2014 12:32 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: cancer stick (1954)

Note also that HDAS cites, in brackets, an Australian example of
_consumption stick_ from 1919.

Jesse Sheidlower

On Fri, Mar 14, 2014 at 12:27:41PM -0400, Ben Zimmer wrote:
> This book review mentions that the Oxford Dictionary of Modern Slang
> has "cancer stick" = 'cigarette' from 1959:
>
> http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/16/books/review/the-black-eyed-blonde-by-benjamin-black.html
>
> OED3 has it from 1958, and here it is from 1954:
>
> 1954 Alton Ochsner _Smoking and Cancer: A Doctor's Report_ 54 Even the
> brash youth who throws his quarter on the cigarette counter and says,
> "Give me a package of cancer sticks!" is likely to have private
> qualms.
> http://books.google.com/books?id=lQWaAAAAIAAJ
>
> --bgz
>
> --
> Ben Zimmer
> http://benzimmer.com/
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org