[Ads-l] antedating ghostbusters

[Shapiro, Fred]

Fascinating.  It had never occurred to me that "ghostbusters" might be anything but a neologism of the movie screenwriters.

Fred Shapiro



________________________________
From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of Bill Mullins <amcombill at HOTMAIL.COM>
Sent: Wednesday, February 23, 2022 11:13 AM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Subject: antedating ghostbusters

OED has 1930

1909 Los Angeles Times Apr. 7 15/4

Ghost Buster Attacked by Medium as Fraud

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1922 New York Evening World Apr. 26 23/6

Clyde Cook has just finished "The Ghost Buster."  Wonder if it's any relation to "The Ghost Breaker?"

[genealogybank.com]


1923 Davenport IA Daily Times Apr. 21 1/4

This is the motto of the Rev. Father Charles De Heredia, Mexican priest and an instructor of Spanish at Holy Cross college, Worcester, Mass., who has become known as America's champion ghost-buster.

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1926 Memphis TN Commercial Appeal Mar. 11 13/8

Hundreds of persons, curiosity seekers, professional "ghost busters" and thrill hunters have been on the trail of a ghost on the Reedy Creek Road, west of Bristol.

[genealogybank.com]



1975 Rockford IL Morning Star Aug. 16 5/1

CBS's "Ghost Busters," for example, will star Larry Storch and Forrest Tucker, the former "F-Troop" stars, in a farcial [sic] comedy in the Abbot and Costello tradition.

[genealogybank.com]


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