[Ads-l] Slight Antedating of "Comic Strip"

Shapiro, Fred fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU
Wed Oct 14 17:36:08 UTC 2020


Newspapers.com has "comic strip" in the Los Angeles Times, 3 Nov. 1911.

Fred Shapiro


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From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of Baker, John <JBAKER at STRADLEY.COM>
Sent: Saturday, October 10, 2020 7:19 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Subject: Slight Antedating of "Comic Strip"

The OED has April 28, 1913, as its earliest example of "comic strip" (although synonymous standalone "comic" dates back to 1912).  Here is an earlier example, from a promotional advertisement in the Philadelphia Inquirer (Mar. 9, 1913) (NewspaperArchive):  ""Excuse Me, by Myer.  A comic strip full of genuine humor."  The advertisement also has two uses of "comic cartoon" and one of "comic artist."

There are a number of uses of "comic strip" in 1913, typically announcing that some new strip is coming to a newspaper.  Some strips are mentioned more than once in these.  I suspect that one or more of the syndicates began using the term that year.


John Baker







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