[Ads-l] New Earliest Citation for "Smog"

[Shapiro, Fred]

I have found another 1880 citation for "smog."  Since it occurs in a January 4 letter, it may be reasonable to regard this as earlier than the two other 1880 citations.


smog (OED 1905)

1880 _The Argonaut_ (San Francisco)_ 13 Mar. 11/1 (Internet Archive)

LONDON, January 4, 1880 ... Smoke and fog make perhaps the most unwholesome mixture known to human discomfort.  An English wit has named it "smog." ... CAL. A. FORNIA.


"CAL. A. FORNIA." is of course a pseudonym.  It is tempting to speculate that Ambrose Bierce was the author, since Bierce wrote for the _Argonaut_ and Bierce used the word "smog" in 1884, but I don't believe he was in London in 1880.  There seems to be some kind of connection between Northern California and "smog," since four of the five earliest known occurrences of "smog" were published in Northern California.

Fred Shapiro

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