[Ads-l] Phrase: drop-dead gorgeous - NYT obit for Richard Corliss and OED

[Ben Zimmer]

I suspect we owe the coinage claim to a Wikipedia contributor editing
Corliss's page, based on a misreading of the OED entry.

https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Richard_Corliss&diff=prev&oldid=592380062

On Sat, Apr 25, 2015 at 3:57 PM, ADSGarson O'Toole wrote:
>
> Nancy Friedman @Fritinancy tweeted an interesting note about the
> obituary for film critic Richard Corliss. He was credited in the NYT
> with coining the phrase "drop-dead gorgeous".
>
> Website: New York Times nytimes.com
> Article: Richard Corliss, 71, Longtime Film Critic for Time, Dies
> Author: Bruce Weber
> Date: April 24, 2015
>
> http://nyti.ms/1Jptu2B
> http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/25/business/media/richard-corliss-71-longtime-film-critic-for-time-dies.html
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> He expressed adoration of movie stars as different as James Stewart
> and Cameron Diaz. In a 1985 review of the comedy-thriller "Into the
> Night," he described Michelle Pfeiffer as "drop-dead gorgeous,"
> purportedly coining the phrase.
> [End excerpt]
>
> The Oxford English Dictionary has a relevant entry for drop-dead as an
> adjective and adverb.
>
> drop-dead, adj. and adv.
> OED Third Edition, December 2001
> [Begin excerpt]
> colloq. (orig. U.S.).
>  A. adj.
>  1. Stunning, striking, exceptional; breathtaking, heart-stopping.
>
> 1962   N.Y. Herald-Tribune 18 Jan. 14   Fashions from Florence not
> drop-dead... For almost the first time in history Simonetta failed to
> deliver an absolutely drop-dead collection.
> . . .
>
> 2. B. adv.
>
>   As an intensifier modifying an adjective, freq. emphasizing physical
> attractiveness: extremely; strikingly, astonishingly, breathtakingly.
> Freq. in drop-dead gorgeous.
>
> 1980   Washington Post 13 July c2/3   For drop dead chic food,
> Harborplace has a sushi and tempura bar.
>
> 1985   Time (Nexis) 25 Feb. 96   Trim, smart and drop-dead gorgeous,
> Pfeiffer has been nibbling at stardom since her stints in Grease II
> and Scarface.
>
> [End excerpt]
>
> The 1985 citation was in a film review in Time magazine, and it was
> probably written by Richard Corliss. The NYT obit writer may have
> misinterpreted the OED entry and concluded that the earliest known
> citation for "drop-dead gorgeous" was written by Corliss in 1985. But
> the OED researcher was looking for the earliest adverbial use and was
> not searching for the precise phrase "drop-dead gorgeous". In any
> case, earlier instances can be found.
>
> "drop-dead gorgeous" was employed in a UPI article in 1975. The
> following cite also antedates the adverbial sense of "drop dead". I do
> not know who wrote the UPI article.
>
> Date: June 22, 1975
> Newspaper: Sunday Herald Advertiser (Boston Herald)
> Newspaper Location: Boston, Massachusetts
> Article: Movies: Putting Watergate on Screen
> Author: UPI News Service
> Quote Page A13, Column 1
> Database: GenealogyBank)
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> Five-hundred extras, patrons of the Corcoran Art Gallery, were hired
> to look like classy theater-goers. A thousand more Kennedy Center
> goers joined the mob along with a few members of the public who
> sneaked in to rub elbows with Robert ("Drop-dead Gorgeous") Redford
> [End excerpt]

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