[Ads-l] cosplay; meet-cute; my tiny violin (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Ben Zimmer]

Here's a 1952 example of the noun "meet-cute" that I shared on the list
back in '05.

https://www.nytimes.com/1952/10/12/archives/ghostwriter-in-love-the-other-elizabeth-by-jess-gregg-278-pp-new.html
New York Times, Oct 12, 1952, (Book Review) p. 24/1
This may well be, in magazine parlance, the neatest meet-cute of the week
-- the story of a ghost-writer who falls in love with a ghost.

http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2005-December/056054.html

On Tue, Feb 12, 2019 at 8:01 PM Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Yeah, but  in "Grave Robber Meet-Cute," it's a noun
>
> JL
>
> On Mon, Feb 11, 2019 at 7:54 PM Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>
> wrote:
>
> > And it seems only fair that the first cite known to man (or to Barry
> > Popik, which amounts to the same thing) should be due to Alan Campbell,
> the
> > husband of quote magnet Dorothy Parker.  Don’t know if they met cute, but
> > at least Campbell does count as a quote-magnet-in-law.
> >
> > LH
> >
> > > On Feb 11, 2019, at 7:20 PM, Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> > >
> > > As noted on Barry Popik's site (I should've checked there first)...
> > >
> > > https://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/meet_cute/
> > >
> > > On Mon, Feb 11, 2019 at 7:07 PM ADSGarson O'Toole <
> > adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com>
> > > wrote:
> > >
> > >> The phrase "meet cute" (with the appropriate sense) is used in the
> > >> title and the body of a 1937 short story published in "The New
> > >> Yorker".
> > >>
> > >> Date: May 22, 1937
> > >> Periodical: The New Yorker
> > >> Short Story Title: They Meet Cute
> > >> Short Story Author: Alan Campbell
> > >> Start Page 37, Quote Page 37
> > >> Database: Page scans at archives.newyorker.com
> > >>
> > >> [Begin excerpt]
> > >> The rest of the script is fine, boys,” said Mr. Trumpett. “You've got
> > >> nice situations and I like the way you've handled your story line and
> > >> I like your finish—we're going to have a nice little picture when we
> > >> get through with it—but frankly, I don't like your beginning. They
> > >> don't meet cute."
> > >> [End excerpt]
> > >>
> > >> Garson
> > >>
> > >> On Mon, Feb 11, 2019 at 6:24 PM Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> > >>>
> > >>> OED has it from 1941.
> > >>>
> > >>> to meet cute: (in filmmakers' jargon, of two characters) to have an
> > >>> accidental meeting which leads to or is followed by romantic
> > involvement.
> > >>> 1941   A. Boucher Case of Solid Key iii. 49   Last night was nice,
> but
> > >> this
> > >>> is today. We met cute, as they say in story conferences; but people
> > don't
> > >>> live cute.
> > >>>
> > >>>
> > >>> On Mon, Feb 11, 2019 at 6:18 PM MULLINS, WILLIAM D (Bill) CIV USARMY
> > >>> FUTURES COMMAND (USA) <
> 0000099bab68be9a-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu
> > >
> > >>> wrote:
> > >>>
> > >>>>
> > >>>>>>
> > >>>>>> Meet Cute: Accidental/serendipitous introduction or meeting of two
> > >>>> people leading to a romantic or emotional connection.
> > >>>>>>
> > >>>>
> > >>>> Older than I would have guessed.
> > >>>>
> > >>>> _Modern Screen_ Feb 1946 p 87 col 1
> > >>>> "Producers pull it on writers.  'Howdoya get the girl and boy
> > together?
> > >>>> They gotta meet cute --' "
> > >>
> > >

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