[Ads-l] RTFM

[Jonathan Lighter]

Thanks, Garson.

I am very skeptical of asserted usage before the late '70s.

On the other hand, the exasperated phrase "Read the fucking manual!" may go
back nearly to the invention of manuals.

Anyone recalling being told that long ago might easily retroject the
acronym onto the era of the memory.

JL

On Fri, Nov 6, 2015 at 12:15 PM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: RTFM
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> 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."
> > >
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> > 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."
>
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
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-- 
"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