[Ads-l] happy talk

[Nancy Friedman]

"Happy-talk news"--which became the name of an actual format--is somewhat
earlier: late 1960s or early 1970s.

https://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/18/movies/happy-talk-news-covers-a-war.html

Said to have been coined by Al Primo at WABC-TV New York.
https://books.google.com/books?id=26NNDPVupIoC&pg=PA124&lpg=PA124&dq=happy-talk+news+%22al+primo%22&source=bl&ots=Il4Rp66Ra9&sig=ACfU3U3TYv2u0YFITyMqjjxKzr0q32vj4A&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi0td_8monqAhW-HzQIHY9YCwcQ6AEwBHoECAkQAQ#v=onepage&q=happy-talk%20news%20%22al%20primo%22&f=false

Nancy Friedman
Chief Wordworker
www.wordworking.com
http://nancyfriedman.typepad.com
Medium <https://medium.com/@wordworking>

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On Wed, Jun 17, 2020 at 8:52 AM David K. Barnhart <dbarnhart at highlands.com>
wrote:

> PRELIMINARY ENTRY FOR THIRD EDITION OF MY POLITICAL DICTIONARY.
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> happy talk, {m}  optimistic political announcements based on hope rather
> than fact; .......... Compare spin (eOED: 1977).  Nonstandard (used in
> slang
> contexts dealing especially with U.S. politics)
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> DR. ZEKE EMANUEL, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: And unless you actually implement these
> public health measures, physical distancing, wearing masks, avoiding
> crowds,
> not going into bars, you are going to have that. It is inevitable, despite
> all the happy talk coming out of the White House.   Alisyn Camerota, Jim
> Sciutto, et al., "Pence Misleads Americans As Some States Set Virus Records
> ...," CNN New Day (Nexis), June 17, 2020
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> 2020 (probably earlier).  Semantic shifting (specialization): formed from
> happy talk (eOED: 1971?), meaning "informal or light-hearted conversation,
> commentary, or bantering by presenters."  Perhaps ultimately from the
> Broadway show tune "Happy Talk" based on lovers' dreams in the Richard
> Rogers and Oscar Hammerstein play South Pacific (1949).
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> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

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