[Ads-l] Antedating of "Ballpark" (Adjective)

[Jesse Sheidlower]

Yes, this is correct! Well done.

1955 _Aviation Week_ 12 Sept. 41/1
The essential steps in this process are to pre-select a ball-park number for the result which is to be obtained from a given analysis and then to search frantically for some theory which will zero in on the desired trend and fit standard drafing templates.

https://archive.org/details/sim_aviation-week-space-technology_1955-09-12_63_11/page/41/mode/1up

On Sun, Mar 23, 2025 at 04:16:51PM +0000, Stephen Goranson wrote:
> Aviation Weekly
> ________________________________
> From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of Stephen Goranson <0000179d4093b2d6-dmarc-request at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Sent: Sunday, March 23, 2025 12:12 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Subject: Re: Antedating of "Ballpark" (Adjective)
> 
> Possibly a bit earlier, not confirmed, but the vol. 63 does match 1955 July-Sept.
> 
> [page 41 in two snippets]
> 
> 
> ... ball - park number for the result which is to be obtained from a given analysis and then to search frantically for some theory which will zero in on the de- sired trend and fit standard drafting templates . In this short - hair branch ...
> 
> https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.google.com/search?tbo=p&tbm=bks&q=*22ball*park*number*22&tbs=,cdr:1,cd_min:Jan*1_2*1950,cd_max:Dec*31_2*1955&num=10__;JSsrJSsrKys!!OToaGQ!v0s2v1HYO1FZYx6ETXQVfU85N9vSK9su45ISV-lTxOAtJuU4MJ-BKxy0aaiiyWhGzc4g791Hi-HRFxbsAhRL_GADjd0W-Pwv3OE$
> 
> Stephen
> 
> ________________________________
> From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of Jesse Sheidlower <jester at PANIX.COM>
> Sent: Sunday, March 23, 2025 10:01 AM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Subject: Re: Antedating of "Ballpark" (Adjective)
> 
> And a few months earlier still (in the form of a Q-and-A; the initial "?" is in the original text):
> 
> 1956 _Petroleum Processing_ May 65/2
> ? On a barrel-for-barrel basis, how much additional fresh gas oil could be charged to a unit operating at coke burning capacity by the withdrawal of slurry?
> Clarke: A ball-park figure would seem to be about 3 bbl per bbl. Beyond that, however, I think we might state a range of from two to eight or so.
> 
> https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://archive.org/details/sim_petroleum-processing_1956-05_11_5/page/n74/mode/1up__;!!OToaGQ!qHX6dgIkytvy4L52rzSeiO6lQ3qRLIj1pcWGeZMUKzoVpYMinYn03GMGW7KDTvwXiAArb-wHnkAX4w$
> 
> Jesse Sheidlower
> 
> 
> On Sun, Mar 23, 2025 at 09:48:46AM -0400, ADSGarson O'Toole wrote:
> > Congratulations to  Ken Liss. Here is a slightly earlier citation for
> > "ballpark figure".
> >
> > Date: November 1956
> > Periodical: Control Engineering
> > Volume 3, Issue 11
> > Section: Feedback
> > Title: When transistors overload
> > Quote Page 12
> > Publisher: McGraw-Hill Publishing Company, New York
> > Database: Internet Archive
> >
> > [Begin excerpt]
> > Accurate calculation of the signal frequency at which the transistor
> > will overload is difficult. Because rigorous methods seem
> > unreasonable, we asked Aronson to develop some rules-of-thumb which
> > would give the applier of power transistors some "ballpark" figure for
> > frequency limits.
> > [End excerpt]
> >
> > Garson
> >
> > On Sun, Mar 23, 2025 at 8:10 AM Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu> wrote:
> > >
> > > ballpark, adj. (OED 1960)
> > >
> > > “Pentagon language continues to produce new bafflers. One of them is ‘a ballpark figure,’ meaning a very rough estimate which doesn’t do much more than indicate that a given program is going to cost someone an awful lot of money.” The Des Moines Register, June 24, 1957, p16
> > >
> > > NOTE: This antedating was found by Ken Liss.
> > >
> > > Fred Shapiro
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > ------------------------------------------------------------
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> >
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> >
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