[Ads-l] New to me: _whataboutery_

[Ben Zimmer]

I posted about "whataboutery"/"whataboutism" last year, based on research I
did for a WSJ column. I gave cites for "whataboutery" back to 1974 and
"whataboutism" to 1993.

http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2017-June/148304.html

See also:
https://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2017/09/13/whataboutery-whataboutism/

Merriam-Webster later posted an antedating of "whataboutism" from 1978:

---
https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/whataboutism-origin-meaning
The weaknesses of whataboutism -- which dictates that no one must get away
with an attack on the Kremlin's abuses without tossing a few bricks at
South Africa, no one must indict the Cuban police State without castigating
President Park, no one must mention Irak, Libya or the PLO without having a
bash at Israel, &c. -- have been canvassed in this column before.
--Michael Bernard, The Age (Melbourne, Victoria, Australia), 17 Jun. 1978
---

I hear from Katherine Martin that the OED has confirmed this cite on paper.
The Age credits the coinage to Lionel Bloch, who used it in a letter to the
editor in "a leading British daily" (though it's not clear yet which one).

--Ben


On Tue, Apr 17, 2018 at 4:17 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:

> Google: About 57,600 results
> noun
> BRITISH
> the technique or practice of responding to an accusation or a difficult
> question by making a counteraccusation or by raising a different issue.
>
> A.K.A. "whataboutism" and as the logical fallacy, _tu quoque_
>

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