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The intersection of pedantry, scholarship, and fanboyhood

posted by Zed on March 14 2004 10:13

The OED is hunting first references of science fictional words . For instance, they’re looking for a reference for extraterrestrial (as a noun) antedating 1942:

Edward Bornstein submitted a 1954 cite from Robert Heinlein’s “Star Lummox”. Ben Ostrowsky submitted a 1951 cite from Mack Reynolds’ “The Case of the Little Green Men”. Cory Panshin submitted a cite from a reprint of Fredric Brown’s “Honeymoon in Hell”; Mike Christie verified the cite in the 1950 first magazine appearance. Mike Christie submitted a 1949 cite from L. Sprague de Camp’s “The Animal-Cracker Plot”. Mike Christie submitted a 1942 cite from Martin Pearson’s “The Embassy”.

Strikes me that 1942 has got to be easy to beat for that one. Not that I have the time to try, or the first editions to be sure.

(Via Languagehat )

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