[Ads-l] "Strategery" Not in OED

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

> 
> Are the 19th C. "strategeries" the same as Will Ferrell's?

It didn't strike me as such when I was compiling them.  They looked to be an alternate spelling, as much as anything.  But they all seemed to be serious uses of the word.

The post included two classified ads from 1987 and 1996, both for business-type jobs.  I saw several others of that era and in the same context, and suspect that those all had a common origin -- perhaps some business motivational book, or something similar -- and that it enjoyed some currency before Ferrell as a buzzword of some sort.  That is a suspicion only, though, and I have no data to support it other than the existence of the ads.

Once Ferrell used it, though, "strategery" definitely took on a new meaning.  And if I were Lex I, King of Dictionaries, "strategery"  would have two entries -- one as a variant spelling for "strategy" from 1800's to 1996, and a satiric definition for the post-Ferrell era.

> 
> Or are they merely occasional typos?  Or at least not intended humorously or satirically?
> 
> If meant seriously, are they still the same as today's?
> 
> Or is coincidence at work here?
> 
> If so, then what?
> 
> BTW, I've heard a non-academic friend of mine use the word (with obvious if unstated allusion to SNL) at once or twice over the years. It
> seems to be fun to use.
> 
> JL
> 
> 
> 

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