[Ads-l] meet cute

[Ben Zimmer]

The 1952 cite is one that I shared to the list back in 2005 (and then again
in 2019). Haven't hunted for the noun more recently.

http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2005-December/056054.html
http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2019-February/154166.html

On Mon, Jan 24, 2022 at 7:55 PM Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>
wrote:

> 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.)
>

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