cancer stick (1954)

[Laurence Horn]

On Mar 14, 2014, at 12:53 PM, Shapiro, Fred wrote:

> 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

And then there's "coffin nail(s)", which apparently was around in the late 19th c.

LH
>
>
> ________________________________________
> 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/
>>
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