[Ads-l] Major Antedating of "Smog"

[Shapiro, Fred]

Yes, it's a modest antedating of the 1884, 1881, and 1880 citations I have posted previously.  But it is a major antedating relative to the OED's 1905 first use, often erroneously described as the coinage of the term.  It is the original source for the previous 1880 citation, from the Santa Cruz Weekly Sentinel.

Fred Shapiro




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From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at GMAIL.COM>
Sent: Saturday, October 22, 2022 2:08 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Subject: Re: Major Antedating of "Smog"

Nice find, Fred! Though it's a not-so-major antedating from the one you
found from 1881.

https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Flistserv.linguistlist.org%2Fpipermail%2Fads-l%2F2011-December%2F115046.html&data=05%7C01%7Cfred.shapiro%40YALE.EDU%7C08724050dc404e4597e508dab4586fb4%7Cdd8cbebb21394df8b4114e3e87abeb5c%7C0%7C0%7C638020589183873254%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=6Zd8jRJWtNJFhFwE7vwp%2BIPVokT1VzIkVgGS1aaGzxI%3D&reserved=0

I cited that antedating in a 2018 WSJ column on "vog" (volcanic smog):

https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wsj.com%2Farticles%2Fas-kilauea-rages-a-look-at-the-diverse-volcanic-vocabulary-1527258578%3Fst%3D09sikp4o1bo5utk%26reflink%3Ddesktopwebshare_permalink&data=05%7C01%7Cfred.shapiro%40YALE.EDU%7C08724050dc404e4597e508dab4586fb4%7Cdd8cbebb21394df8b4114e3e87abeb5c%7C0%7C0%7C638020589183873254%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=MWHUWy60LxX99bnPiEuP%2FNvJmQilRB89wieovTETNio%3D&reserved=0

--bgz

On Sat, Oct 22, 2022 at 1:35 PM Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu> wrote:

> smog (OED 1905)
>
> 1880 Henry Meyrick _Santa Cruz and Monterey Illustrated Hand-Book_  The
> morning fog ... is really not fog at all, but cloud of pure white mist,
> warmer and much less wetting than a "Scotch Mist," not differing entirely
> from the true British fog, facetiously spelled "smog" because always
> colored and strongly impregnated with smoke, a mixture as unwholesome as it
> is unpleasant.
>
> Fred Shapiro
>
>
>
>
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