[Ads-l] "To soft-open"

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Here are the results of quick search restricted to newspapers.com. The
term "soft opening" was in use by 1972. The verb form "soft opened"
was employed in an Australian newspaper in 1996.

[ref] 1972 February 29, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, New Innkeepers Are
Learning at Marriott by John M. McGuire (Post-Dispatch Staff), Quote
Page 7B, Column 1, St. Louis, Missouri. (Newspapers_com)[/ref]

[Begin excerpt]
A "soft" opening, explained hotel manager Roland D. Roush, a
six-foot-six former Ohio State University basketball player, is a
quiet, unannounced opening, which allows employes to polish new found
skills in an atmosphere without the pressure brought on by a grand
opening rush.
[End excerpt]


[ref] 1996 March 26, The Sydney Morning Herald, Queensland casino
deals out poor early results by Tony Grant-Taylor (in Brisbane), Quote
Page 28, Column 6, New South Wales, Australia. (Newspapers_com)[/ref]

[Begin excerpt]
The Reef Casino had only "soft-opened" on January 31 and its "grand
opening" was not scheduled until April 18, with the high season for
north Queensland beginning in May.
[End excerpt]

There were no pertinent matches for "soft open" or "soft opening" in
the OED although I am sure some sense of "soft" listed in the OED fits
this expression.

Benjamin Barrett remarked that John Baker discussed "soft opening" on
the list back in 2005 which was before I joined. A quick search with
site:linguistlist.org did not uncover the post. The search did find a
discussion back in 1999.

http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/1999-August.txt

Garson

On Tue, Jan 17, 2017 at 4:44 PM, Barretts Mail <mail.barretts at gmail.com> wrote:
> It’s come up on this list at least once. BB
>
>> On 17 Jan 2017, at 12:11, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU> wrote:
>>
>> http://www.thestorestarters.com/5-reasons-to-soft-open-your-new-store-2/
>>
>> I had never even heard of the source, a soft opening, before getting an invitation to participate in one a few minutes ago.
>>
>> LH
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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