[Ads-l] meet cute

[Laurence Horn]

Yes, but what's really interesting is the noun, mentioned in passing by
Barry:  a meet-cute.  None of the early cites involve the noun, and it
would be interesting to know when that first appeared in print. The OED
provides this gloss and first cite, but it seems like the 1952 cite from
the NYTBR presupposes readers' familiarity with the term (in its nominal
form).

OED, s.v. meet-cute, n.

Chiefly with reference to films, novels, etc.: an amusing or charming first
encounter between two people that leads to the development of a romantic
relationship between them.
1952   *N.Y. Times Bk. Rev.* 12 Oct. 24/2   This may well be, in magazine
parlance, the neatest meet-cute of the week—the story of a ghost-writer who
falls in love with a ghost.

LH

On Mon, Jan 24, 2022 at 7:14 PM ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com>
wrote:

> A thread about "meet cute" occurred in February 2019. I posted the May
> 22, 1937 citation for the verb form in "The New Yorker".
>
> http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2019-February/154161.html
>
> Ben Zimmer pointed out that Barry Popik had already shared the cite on
> his Big Apple website:
>
> “Meet cute” (romantic comedy rule)
> https://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/meet_cute/
>
> Garson
>
> On Mon, Jan 24, 2022 at 7:31 AM Stephen Goranson <goranson at duke.edu>
> wrote:
> >
> > OED's word of the day has meet-cute, n. from 1952; to meet cute, v. from
> 1941, "as they say in story conferences."
> >
> > "They Meet Cute," New Yorker story title, by Alan Campbell. (Incipit:
> "The rest of the script is fine, boys....") May 22, 1937, p. 37, c.1.
> >
> > (I don't have Variety archives online.)
> >
> > Stephen
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

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