[Ads-l] Antedating of Spitball v.

[Baker, John]

Nice work, Garson.  I wonder why my Newspapers.com search did not find this example.


John Baker


From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> On Behalf Of ADSGarson O'Toole
Sent: Sunday, May 19, 2024 6:27 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: Antedating of Spitball v.

External Email - Think Before You Click


Nice work, John. Following your lead I found a slightly earlier
citation with the desired sense:

Date: August 4, 1950
Newspaper: Greenfield Recorder-Gazette
Newspaper Location: Greenfield, Massachusetts
Article: Radio In Review: We Gotta Date At the Pearly Gate
Author: John Crosby
Quote Page 4, Column 6
Database: Newspapers.com
https://www.newspapers.com/image/840521254/<https://www.newspapers.com/image/840521254>

[Begin excerpt]
Which gives me a great idea for a song: "Will you Love Me in Hell as
You Do in Connecticut?" (We got a date at the Stygian gate. Now don't
be late. We gotta be there when the bell starts knelling.")
I'm just spitballing there, but you get the idea.
[End excerpt]

Garson

On Sun, May 19, 2024 at 5:29 PM Baker, John
<000014a9c79c3f97-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu<mailto:000014a9c79c3f97-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu>> wrote:
>
> The OED has 1955 for the verb to spitball, meaning to throw out suggestions for discussion. Here is an earlier example, from an article on television business jargon on page 49 of The New York Times Sunday Magazine, Apr. 16, 1953 (ProQuest Historical Newspapers), entitled "TV ('The Business') Lexicon," by Herbert Mitgang: "Spitballing - Thinking out loud. "Let me just spitball a few thoughts off the top of my head while I'm on my feet.""
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> John Baker
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org<http://www.americandialect.org>

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