[Ads-l] Grammy (April 1959)

[Ben Zimmer]

Garson shared the Hollywood Reporter cite a few years ago.

https://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2022-May/161460.html

On Tue, Feb 3, 2026 at 7:46 AM dave at wilton.net <dave at wilton.net> wrote:

>
> The OED has September 1959. Here are two earlier ones.
>
> Connolly, Mike. “Rambling Reporter.” The Hollywood Reporter, 23 April
> 1959, 2/2. ProQuest: Trade Journal.
>
> "Newly organized Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences is previewing ITS
> award at the Derby—miniature gramophone called Grammy . . . Grammy, meet
> Oscar & Emmy"
>
> (The elipsis in the above quotation is in the original.)
>
>
> Myers, Sim. “On the Square: Now Grammy.” Times-Picayune (New Orleans), 4
> May 1959, 32/2. Readex: America’s Historical Newspapers.
>
> "This is the week of Emmy and Grammy. I suppose quite a few people know by
> now that Emmy is the niece of Oscar and means the award symbol for the top
> television prizes for the year just ended. Grammy is the name of an award
> which will be given for the first time this year in the phonograph industry.
>
> "'Grammy' was selected because of its nomenclature similarity to
> grammophone [<i>sic</i>] which is what people used to call the phonograph
> in America and still do in England.
>
> "The Grammy awards in 28 categories of recording activity will be awarded
> at a banquet Monday night in Beverly Hills, Calif.
>
> "When the Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences set out to find a name
> for its equivalent to Oscar and Emmy, some 300 persons usggested
> [<i>sic</i>] the name Grammy, and of all those who thought this would be a
> good name for the statuette, a New Orleans girl one the prize for having
> the earliest post mark on her letter."
>
>

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