[Ads-l] Very Slight Antedating of "Flying Saucer" in Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction

[Shapiro, Fred]

It is interesting that "flying saucer" is similar to "lunatic fringe" or "tin pan alley" or "software."  In all four cases, there is usage of the phrase or word in a different sense than the now-prevalent one and it is not clear whether there is a connection between the earlier usage and the current one.  "Flying saucer" was first used, I think, to describe targets at shooting clubs.

Fred


________________________________
From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of Jesse Sheidlower <jester at PANIX.COM>
Sent: Wednesday, April 6, 2022 9:35 AM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Subject: Re: Very Slight Antedating of "Flying Saucer" in Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction

Finally getting to this a year later.... I've revised the entry, and added a 26 June cite from the Philadelphia Inquirer (that Fred Shapiro kindly provided to me offlist).

The Chicago Tribune article with a 25 June dateline quotes Kenneth Arnold describing the objects as "shaped like a pie plate", but does not actually contain the term "flying saucer".

Jesse Sheidlower
<hat>HDSF</hat>

On Mon, Mar 08, 2021 at 08:16:27AM -0500, dave at wilton.net wrote:
>
> At least one of the those published on 26 June has a dateline of 25 June. Kenneth Arnold's sighting was on 24 June 1947.
>
> “Sees Mystery Aerial ‘Train’ 5 Miles Long.” Chicago Daily Tribune, 26 June 1947 (Dateline: 25 June), 1. ProQuest Historical Newspapers.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: "Shapiro, Fred" <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
> Sent: Monday, March 8, 2021 7:19am
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: [ADS-L] Very Slight Antedating of "Flying Saucer" in Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction
>
>
>
> The Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction has 27 June 1947 as its first citation. A search in Newspapers.com yields many newspaper citations dated 26 June 1947.
>
> Fred Shapiro
>
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