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

[Stephen Goranson]

If not already mentioned, as the list search appears to be defective:
In The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary by Bierce, page 84 in the U. Georgia P. 2000 edition:

"Fog....and as Mr. Edmund Yates, by combining the words 'smoke' and 'fog,' gave to the London atmosphere the graphic name of 'smog,'...."

Presumably, Edmund Hodgson Yates (1831-1894)

sg
________________________________
From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of Stephen Goranson <goranson at DUKE.EDU>
Sent: Sunday, October 23, 2022 4:37 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Subject: Re: New Earliest Citation for "Smog"

Well, A. Bierce did spend time in CA and England (1870s) and used a name, Dod Grile, which may be a grin/smile portmanteau.

sg
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From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
Sent: Sunday, October 23, 2022 3:51 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Subject: New Earliest Citation for "Smog"

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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