[Ads-l] Antedating of "Sociolinguistic"

[Ben Zimmer]

Nice find, Fred. The Kansas City Star item is an excerpt from Wilson
Follett's column "The State of the Language" in the Feb. 1939 issue of The
Atlantic.

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1939/02/the-state-of-the-language-for-the-ear-trieth-words-as-the-mouth-tasteth-meat/654203/
(paywalled, but can be read in incognito mode)

Follett's column tackles the proper form of address for a college
professor. Here's more context:

---
If anyone can suggest a wholesome and wholesale way of coping with this
sociolinguistic problem, I trust he will confide it to me, for thus far I
have been unable to evolve any better compromise than to salute a bona fide
practising professor as 'Dear Mr. X.' and then direct the envelope to
Professor X. as a sop to identification, letting the recipient think me as
crude or careless as he may.
---

--bgz

On Mon, Nov 21, 2022 at 1:34 AM Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu> wrote:

> sociolinguistic (OED 1942)
>
> 1939 Kansas City Star 27 Feb. 16/2 (Newspapers.com)  A wholesome and
> wholesale way of coping with this sociolinguistic problem.
>
> Fred Shapiro
>
>

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