[Ads-l] RTFM

[Jonathan Lighter]

Thanks, Jesse.

Early exx. are mainly computer-related.

Making it even less likely that the acronym had much - if any - currency
before 1950.

JL

On Fri, Nov 6, 2015 at 11:00 AM, Jesse Sheidlower <jester at panix.com> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jesse Sheidlower <jester at PANIX.COM>
> Subject:      Re: RTFM
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> There's a 1983 example in _The F-Word_ from a computer discussion group on
> Usenet.
>
> Jesse Sheidlower
>
> On Fri, Nov 06, 2015 at 10:46:07AM -0500, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> > Another website avers that this popular acronym for "Read The $*^^%!!
> > Manual" was in use in the late '40s.
> >
> > GB offers nothing before 1990, and I didn't encounter it till  maybe
> 2001.
> >
> > Can anybody recall it from before 1990?
> >
> > JL
> > --
> > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
> truth."
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



-- 
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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