[Ads-l] New to me: "astroturfing"

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

As Wilson noted the wordplay term "astroturf organization" is based on
"grassroots organization". I came across another example of wordplay
involving "smoke astroturf" and "smoke grass". The relevant entry is
here:

http://quoteinvestigator.com/2011/02/14/smoke-astroturf/

The earliest citation I located was an interview with baseball player
Tug McGraw in April 30, 1974:

[Begin excerpt]
Back in the Mets' locker room, McGraw laughed and said that he might
get in trouble for something he said as a guest on a San Francisco TV
talk show the day before. "A young boy called up and asked me if I
preferred grass or astroturf," chuckled Tug. "And I told him that I
had never smoked astroturf. I guess that I shouldn't have said that."
[End except]

Earlier evidence would be welcome,
Garson


On Thu, Apr 2, 2015 at 12:22 AM, Nancy Friedman <nancyf at wordworking.com> wrote:
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Nancy Friedman <nancyf at WORDWORKING.COM>
> Organization: Wordworking
> Subject:      Re: New to me: "astroturfing"
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> It was one of my words of the week in August 2006. =
> http://nancyfriedman.typepad.com/away_with_words/2006/08/word_of_the_wee_=
> 5.html
>
> An anti-astroturfing campaign and website date back to May 2004. =
> http://www.thenewpr.com/wiki/pmwiki.php?pagename=3DMain.About
>
>
>
>
> ____
>
> Word of the week:  Kipe. http://nancyfriedman.typepad.com
>
> Nancy Friedman
> Names. Taglines. Know-how.
> web  www.wordworking.com
> blog  http://nancyfriedman.typepad.com
> phone consultations via Clarity.fm
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> desk  510 652-4159
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>  =20
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Wilson Gray [mailto:hwgray at GMAIL.COM]=20
> Sent: Wednesday, April 01, 2015 6:53 PM
> Subject: New to me: "astroturfing"
>
> But the UD has it from 2008:
>
> "the act of creating a small organization and making it appear to =
> represent something popular for the purpose of promoting a particular =
> entity, cause, etc. (a play on "grassroots" in the sense of a popular =
> movement originating among the common people, ultimately from AstroTurf, =
> a brand of artificial grass)"
>
> --
> -Wilson
> -----
> All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint to =
> come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
> -Mark Twain
>
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