[Ads-l] antedating trans. "disappear,"

[Jonathan Lighter]

OED:1965

[1922 _McGill [U.] Daily_ (March 3) 3: He saw two big DETECATIVES [sic]  a
standin' by his side. /They disappeared him so quick he hadn't time to
shout.]

1961 Joseph Heller _Catch-22_ (N.Y.: Simon & Schuster) 359: She had urgent
news about Dunbar. "They're going to disappear him." Yossarian...laughed
uneasily...."It doesn't make sense. It isn't even good grammar. What the
hell does it mean when they disappear somebody?" _Ibid._ 392: "Major
Major's gone." "Did they disappear him?" "I don't know." "What will you do
if they try to disappear you?"

JL
-- 
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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