[Ads-l] Origins of Trump Epithet

[Ben Zimmer]

The phrase first appeared in the Jan.-Feb. 1988 issue of _Spy_ on p. 20:

https://books.google.com/books?id=crbVcpW49wsC&pg=PA20
"Two-month anniversary of the publication of short-fingered vulgarian
Donald Trump's _The Art of the Deal_ (tape-recorded with former journalist
Tony Schwartz)."

...and in the Mar. 1988 issue on p. 42:

https://books.google.com/books?id=ysvbfXayTMkC&pg=PA42
"Was it naughty, for instance, of daily book critic Christopher
Lehmann-Haupt to give a virtual rave review to short-fingered vulgarian
Donald Trump's _The Art of the Deal_?"

...and then many times thereafter.

More here:
https://www.vox.com/2016/3/2/11148356/donald-trump-short-fingers-small-hands-vulgarian

See also the entry for "small/tiny hands" in "Among the New Words,"
American Speech 92(2) (May 2017), pp. 216-7.

https://bit.ly/ATNW92-2

On Wed, Feb 28, 2018 at 10:01 PM, Peter Reitan <pjreitan at hotmail.com> wrote:

> Used before April 10, 1988.  Whether it was originally used by Graydon
> Carter or not, he was quoted as supporting the characterization.
>
>
> From - Donald Trump called 'short fingered vulgarian' (Boston Globe) in
> the News-Journal (Mansfield, Ohio), April 10, 1988, page 13<
> https://www.newspapers.com/clip/17882453/newsjournal/>.
>
> "A visitor has asked why Spy bothers paying $60,000 to fact-checkers, and
> yet publishes recklessly insulting epithets - like "short fingered
> vulgarian" - to describe its favorite targets - like real estate mogul
> Donald Trump.  'There's no factual problem,' insists Graydon Carter, one of
> the magazine's three founders, staring down at his own full-length
> fingers.  'Trump has short fingers, and he's a vulgarian.  I think the
> checkers did their job admirably.'"
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of
> Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
> Sent: Wednesday, February 28, 2018 6:40:47 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Origins of Trump Epithet
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Shapiro, Fred" <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Origins of Trump Epithet
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> -------------------
>
> An epithet that has been applied to Donald Trump ("short-fingered
> vulgarian=
>  from Queens") is said to have been coined by Graydon Carter in Spy
> Magazin=
> e in 1988, but the details of the coinage are a bit elusive.  Is anyone
> abl=
> e to confirm for me which 1988 issue of Spy introduced this phrase, and
> was=
>  it used in an article by Carter or in a parodic advertisement appearing
> in=
>  the magazine without Carter's byline?
>
>

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