[Ads-l] [Non-DoD Source] Re: "Gaslight" as a verb only five decades old

[MULLINS, WILLIAM D (Bill) CIV USARMY RDECOM AMRDEC (US)]

I vaguely recall an episode of the The Lucy Show in which gaslighting is a plot element.  Google reveals:

"06) Episode 141: “Lucy Gets Mooney Fired” (Aired: 11/06/67 | Filmed: 09/21/67)

Lucy inadvertently gets Mooney fired after she covers up a bank shortage. To convince Cheever to give Mooney his job back, Lucy gives him the Gaslight treatment.

Written by Fred S. Fox and Seaman Jacobs

I love how kooky this episode is WITHOUT managing to insult its audience’s intelligence. Taking a cue from Gaslight (1944), Lucy decides to make Cheever think he has gone crazy, so that he’ll agree to rehire Mr. Mooney. The script itself isn’t that funny, but the bits Lucy does to make Cheever flip are great. This is, deservedly, a fan favorite."





> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of Ben Zimmer
> Sent: Wednesday, January 11, 2017 10:23 AM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: [Non-DoD Source] Re: "Gaslight" as a verb only five decades old
> 
> All active links contained in this email were disabled.  Please verify the identity of the sender, and confirm the authenticity of all links
> contained within the message prior to copying and pasting the address to a Web browser.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ----
> 
> There's a 1956 "I Love Lucy" episode called "Lucy Meets Charles Boyer," in which Ricky conspires with Charles Boyer to make Lucy think that
> Boyer is merely a lookalike. There are obvious parallels to "Gaslight," but I watched the episode here and I didn't hear anything about
> "gaslighting":
> 
> Caution-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEg-3yqLLVQ
> 
> --Ben
> 
> 
> On Wed, Jan 11, 2017 at 10:49 AM, Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> > Jon: The earliest HDAS cite is from 1956, quoting an unnamed NYC
> > woman, age 41. There's nothing about "I Love Lucy," and I've never
> > heard anything about the show spreading the word. Do you have more
> > information on this you can share?
> >
> > --Ben
> >
> >
> > On Mon, Jan 9, 2017 at 11:11 AM, Jonathan Lighter
> > <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
> > wrote:
> >
> >> Check HDAS, with earlier cite from "I Love Lucy" - which probably
> >> popularized the verb through infinite reruns.
> >>
> >> JL
> >>
> >> On Mon, Jan 9, 2017 at 10:28 AM, Yagoda, Ben <byagoda at udel.edu> wrote:
> >>
> >> > George Cukor’s 1944 film was in turn based on a 1938 play by
> >> > Patrick Hamilton. The OED’s first citation for “gaslight” as a
> >> > verb is a
> >> sentence
> >> > from a 1965 article in “The Reporter”: "Some troubled persons
> >> > having
> >> even
> >> > gone so far as to charge malicious intent and premeditated
> >> ‘gaslighting.’”
> >> >
> >>
> >
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - Caution-http://www.americandialect.org

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