[Ads-l] antedating "drinking the Kool-aid" (figurative)

[Ben Zimmer]

The 2010 thread included these examples from 1981-82:

---
Gettysburg (PA) Times, Feb. 20, 1981, p. 1, col. 1
"We are all being put in the place of the citizens of Jonestown, being told
by our leaders to drink the Kool Aid of nuclear power."
---
John Caris, _Reality Inspector_ (1982), p. 112
Did contemporary society now have a leakage problem; was it losing its
survival consciousness; was it attempting a global Jonestown incident? How
long would people continue to drink the kool-ade of environmental pollution
and tranquilized thinking?
http://books.google.com/books?id=wlcMzrtP0c4C&pg=PA112
---

At the time I wrote:

---
What's interesting about the 1981 and 1982 cites is that they're both of
the form "drink the kool-aid of X," where X is something that the speaker
feels we're being brainwashed into accepting unthinkingly (nuclear power,
environmental pollution). That strikes me as slightly different from the
"obedience or loyalty" sense captured in the OED def.
---

The 1980 cite found by Bill fits with these early examples -- in this case,
people are said to be brainwashed into believing that "spending billions of
dollars in far away places is making us more safe and secure." But now I
see that when the OED entry was revised to include the 1981 cite, the def
was modified to include this meaning: "to support --- wholeheartedly; to
commit unquestioningly to ---." So that captures the emerging usage better
than simply "to demonstrate unquestioning obedience or loyalty" (the
original OED definition).

--bgz

On Tue, Nov 4, 2025 at 2:04 AM ADSGarson O'Toole <
00001aa1be50b751-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:

> Excellent citation, Bill. Way back in 2010, Ben Zimmer initiated a
> thread about "drink the kool-aid". Several citations were given within
> messages of the thread:
> https://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2010-August/101917.html
>
> I added a few citations although some of the dates were unverified:
> https://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2010-August/101943.html
>
> Garson
>
> On Tue, Nov 4, 2025 at 1:14 AM Bill Mullins <amcombill at hotmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > 1980 Ann Arbor News 21 Feb 12/4
> >
> > They couldn't get away with these threats and actions if we didn't keep
> on drinking
> > the Kool-Aid that spending billions of dollars in far away places is
> making us
> > more safe and secure.
> >
> >
> https://www.newspapers.com/image/1179525786/?match=1&terms=%22drinking%20the%20kool%20aid%22
> >
> >
>

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