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

[Jesse Sheidlower]

So you didn't immediately edit Wikipedia to correct this? Come on, let's
all do our part!

On Sat, Apr 25, 2015 at 04:35:40PM -0400, Ben Zimmer wrote:
> 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]
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> 

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