[Ads-l] greatest thing since sliced bread (1951)

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Barry Popik located the valuable 1951 citation and shared it here:

Entry from September 12, 2016
“The greatest thing since sliced bread”
http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/the_greatest_thing_since_sliced_bread


On Wed, May 3, 2017 at 3:25 PM, Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at gmail.com> wrote:
> OED's entry for "bread" hasn't been updated for a while. The earliest
> example given for "the best (or greatest, etc.) thing since sliced
> bread" is from 1969. Here it is from 1951:
>
> News-Journal (Mansfield, Ohio), Mar. 10, 1951, p. 3, col. 7
> Dorothy Kilgallen, "The Voice of Broadway" (syndicated column)
> "He is the greatest thing since sliced bread," she says of Mr. Granger.
> [Kilgallen quoting her sister about Farley Granger in "King Solomon's Mines"]
>
> (There are more literal examples from the '30s and '40s for phrases
> like "the newest thing since sliced bread" appearing in advertisements
> for baked goods.)
>
> --bgz
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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