[Ads-l] Nones (2005)

[Laurence Horn]

Even putting aside the aforementioned potential misreading of “nones” as a Latin bisyllabic for a time of the day (between matins and vespers) or a day of the month (between kalends and ides), there’s the fatal potential mishearing, especially in the context of “religious /n^nz/”.  I’d have nominated “NOTA” as an acronym = ’None Of The Above’, as in the old multiple choice tests we used to take.  There could even be a pseudo-Latin plural “Notae” along with the regularized “Notas”.  (Long o:, of course)

LH 

> On Feb 5, 2020, at 6:37 PM, ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> 
> Nice citations. You might want to take a look at the following JSTOR
> article. The authors indicate that the "nones" category existed in
> surveys about religious affiliation performed in 1957 and 1963. So
> "nones" may have been used with the desired sense before Glenn M.
> Vernon's mimeograph in 1967. On the other hand, Vernon may have
> introduced this term.
> 
> Date: Winter 1985
> Journal: Sociological Analysis
> Volume 46, Number 4
> Article: Religious "Nones": 1957 to 1982
> Authors: John G. Condran, Joseph B. Tamney
> Pages 415-423
> Database: JSTOR
> 
> [Begin excerpt]
> While in 1957 only 2.7 percent of the American population said they
> had no religious preference (i.e., were "nones"), in 1982 the
> percentage was 7.1 (see Table 1).
> [End excerpt]
> 
> Here are three works from before 1967 that were listed in bibliography
> (there are others). I do not know whether any of these works use
> "nones".
> 
> Demerath III, N.J. 1965. Social Class in American Protestantism.
> Chicago: Rand McNally.
> 
> Hoult, Thomas Ford. 1958. The Sociology of Religion. New York: Dryden.
> 
> Hudson, Winthrop S. 1965. Religion in America. New York: Charles
> Scribner's Sons.
> 
> Garson
> 
> On Wed, Feb 5, 2020 at 4:26 PM <dave at wilton.net> wrote:
>> 
>> I found two citations from 1967/68. Given the context and the fact that the author has to cite himself to acknowledge earlier uses of the term, I think this is very close to the term's origin. ("None" has been a category in Gallup's polling of religious affiliation since 1948, but I haven't found any earlier use as a noun in this sense.)
>> 
>> Vernon, Glenn M. "The Religious 'Nones': A Neglected Category." Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 7.2 (Autumn 1968), 219–226, on pp. 219–220:
>> 
>> "The use of the 'independent' label suggests that the lack of political party affiliation does not mean that one is apolitical or has no political convictions. He is still viewed as a political person. Perhaps this is because the act of voting serves as the primary validation of political participation. There is no comparable religious phenomenon, no clearly recognized religious behavior other than membership, attendance, or other identification with a formal religious group. Thus, 'none' is used in religious research, designating no religious affiliation, but also adding the gratuitous implication of a nonreligious person."
>> 
>> Vernon, Glenn M. "Marital Characteristics of Religious Independents." Review of Religious Research, 9.3 (Spring 1968), 162–70, on p. 162:
>> 
>> "When the sociologist of religion reports his research, he at times includes a somewhat residual category of 'none' under which is frequently included such diverse individuals as atheists, agnostics, those with 'no preference,' those with 'no affiliation' as well as practicing and/or believing 'nones'—those without affiliation who engage in ritual behavior and/or accept premises incorporated in the beliefs of the affiliated religionists. These are the 'religious nones' to which previous attention has been called."
>> 
>> (Despite the earlier date, the "previous attention" in the second quote is a reference to a mimeographed 1967 version of Vernon's Autumn 1968 article, presumably one that was informally circulating while the article was under peer review.)
>> 
>> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> On Behalf Of ADSGarson O'Toole
>> Sent: Monday, February 3, 2020 3:46 PM
>> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>> Subject: Re: [ADS-L] Nones (2005)
>> 
>> Here is a 1970 citation. The list of religious options apparently was not exhaustive; hence, the 'nones' category may have include some followers of religion. The text is ambiguous (to me). Did "none" mean "no religion" or "none of the options listed". The headline used the word "religionless".
>> 
>> Date: October 25, 1970
>> Newspaper: Los Angeles Times
>> Newspaper Location:
>> Article: Study Gives Profile of Religionless Americans
>> Author: John Dart (Times Religion Writer) Quote Page A8, Column 1
>> Database: Newspapers.com
>> 
>> [Begin excerpt - please double check for errors] The roughly 2% of persons who have declined in six national Gallup, polls to identify themselves as Protestant, Catholic or Jew were studied by two University of Georgia researchers who said the "religious 'nones' has been a neglected category of study."
>> . . .
>> "The 'nones' were also more likely to be male (70%) and to fall in the
>> 20- to 29-year-old category." they added [End excerpt]
>> 
>> Garson
>> 
>> On Mon, Feb 3, 2020 at 1:29 PM <dave at wilton.net> wrote:
>>> 
>>> I'm looking for early examples of "nones" or "none" used to refer to people with no formal religious affiliation/identity (includes atheists, agnostics, and "spiritual" people).
>>> 
>>> The earliest I've found is this from 2005:
>>> 
>>> Bibby, Reginald and Stuart MacDonald. “Restless expert sees church growth.” The Presbyterian Record, 129.4, Apr 2005, 46.
>>> 
>>> “Indeed, if it was included in his list of major religious groups in Restless Churches (Table 2.7) the 'religious nones' would rank as the second largest denomination in Canada.”
>>> 
>>> Bibby wrote a 2004 book "Restless Churches." I'll check that out of the library tomorrow to see if he uses it there. But I'm wondering if anyone has a line on earlier uses. "None" is a devilishly difficult word to search for.
>>> 
>>> --Dave Wilton
>>> 
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