[Ads-l] plot hole (1924)

[Ben Zimmer]

OED3 added "plot hole" in its March 2025 update with a first cite of 1949.
Here it is from 1924.

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https://www.newspapers.com/article/telegraph-forum/92256928/
Telegraph-Forum (Bucyrus, Ohio), Oct. 8, 1924, p. 2, col. 6
[review of the film "The Sea Hawk"]
The trickery of the film is superb. There are few flaws, if any, in the
arguments. All the plot holes are chinked up neatly.
---

This cite was brought up on Reddit in a 2022 thread on r/etymology:
https://www.reddit.com/r/etymology/comments/rzzgx7/where_does_the_phrase_plot_hole_come_from/

One of the commenters there suggested "plot hole" might have started as a
play on "pothole," but I haven't seen evidence for that. The 1924 example
has the plot holes "chinked up," which typically referred to filling in
gaps between the logs in a log cabin, so that's a different metaphorical
basis.

--bgz

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