[Ads-l] "proof of life" (1981)

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Interesting phrase, Dave. Here is 1975 citation in which the phrase
appeared in the title of an article about a kidnapping: "Police Ask
Proof Of Life". The newspaper used one "p" in "kidnapping".

Date: March 1, 1975
Newspaper: The Charlotte News
Newspaper Location: Charlotte, North Carolina
Article: Police Ask Proof Of Life
News Service: Associated Press
Quote Page 3A, Column 1
Database: Newspapers.com

https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-charlotte-news-proof/201653491/

[Begin excerpt]
Police urged kidnapers of Berlin mayoral candidate Peter Lorenz to
provide proof today that he was still alive.
[End excerpt]

Garson

On Tue, Jul 14, 2026 at 9:42 AM dave at wilton.net <dave at wilton.net> wrote:
>
>
> Not in the OED.
>
> Wenner, Christopher. “Kidnaping Is Old Weapon, and Perhaps the Cruelest.” Miami Herald (Florida), 14 June 1981, 5D/4. Newspapers.com.
>
> “Doing everything the gang asks does not guarantee anything, however. Salvadorean industrialist and financier Luis Poma arranged the release of three senior guerrilla leaders and paid a large ransom but got only directions to the body of his son, Roberto, cemented over in a cellar.
>
> “He had not asked for ‘proof of life’—the answer to an intimate question, for example—before paying the money-makers of the Salvadorean left, the FARN.”
>
> The phrase was catapulted in the mainstream by the 2000 Taylor Hackford film “Proof of Life,” starring Meg Ryan and Russell Crowe.
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org