[Ads-l] "Posterize" Not in OED

[Ben Zimmer]

See my 2012 post on "posterize," dating it back to 1991 (Michael Wilbon in
the Washington Post).

https://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2012-February/116030.html

The Merriam-Webster definition that Fred quotes was drafted by Stefan
Fatsis, who embedded himself at Merriam for a book project to learn the art
of defining. Stefan talked about working on the "posterize" entry on the
Slate sports podcast that he co-hosts, Hang Up and Listen:

https://slate.com/podcasts/hang-up-and-listen/2021/02/the-australian-open-g-league-ignite-and-anthony-edwards-dunk-on-hang-up-and-listen
(starting at ~1:03:15)

...and Stefan talked about the M-W entry some more on the Slate podcast
that I co-hosted, Spectacular Vernacular:

https://slate.com/podcasts/spectacular-vernacular/2021/11/taylor-swift-keychain-lyric-madeline-kripke-collection
(starting at ~23:50)

On Sat, Oct 29, 2022 at 10:29 AM Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu>
wrote:

> The Oxford English Dictionary, although produced by a predominantly
> British staff, does an excellent job of covering U.S. vocabulary.  Yet
> inevitably there are terms from popular culture and sports that are known
> to tens of millions of Americans but are not included in the OED.  One
> example is the sports sense of the verb "posterize."  Merriam-Webster has
> the following:
> US sports, informal : to make a memorable and visually striking play
> against (an opponent)He ran through a hole on the right side, posterized
> safety Anthony Cioffi with a sharp cut to the inside and exploded into the
> end zone.— Tom Oatesespecially, basketball : to make a forceful and
> overpowering dunk shot over (an overmatched defensive player)The Sixers
> rookie used two hands to posterize Harper, grabbing his first
> highlight-reel worthy dunk since being drafted in June.— Matt Breen… Smith
> got posterized, or dunked on, by Indiana Pacers forward Shawne Williams,
> and the dunk was played multiple times on Sports Center's top 10.— Jeff
> Dillon and Sean Star
> Fred Shapiro
>

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