Roberta and I have been keeping a folder of potential anachronisms. It’s a very well-written show, of course, and therefore a very small folder. Here’s what we’ve got:
In 5G, Midge says to Don:
It must be so intense above 14th Street.
That strikes me as something we didn’t start saying until the 1980s. Calling things “intense” sounds kinda druggy/trippy; maybe mid-70s but I don’t believe earlier. I’m interested in any memories of the usage of this word in that way. Anyone?
In Red in the Face, there are two military phrases. First Betty says to Francine,
You’re my friend, are you here to do recon?
Later, after Roger throws up, Bert Cooper says to the Nixon guys,
Let’s let Roger regroup.
“Regroup” in particular sounds a little off for 1960, not something you’d say about one person. I’m guessing here, I’m not a linguist and I wasn’t alive at the time.
Thoughts?
8 Responses to “Anachronism checks”
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Recon and regroup are military type words which make sense for both Roger and Don.
Intense sounds like a Greenwich Village type thing from even before the 70's. Makes sense for Midge to say.
But I can look all the words up later in my OED to find out when they started in use in these ways. I no longer have online access unfortunately.
Thanks, latenac. I look forward to my son getting his degree in linguistics so I can have that sort of access on tap.
But the thing about "recon" is, Betty used it, not Don, so we're looking for citations in ordinary life, not just among ex-military.
Lots and lots of 40's war movies would probably be the source. A lot of the military slang came into vogue with WWII.
I wish I could edit. According to this
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/recon
recon came into usage during WWI not even two.
Looking up intense it appears it's been used that way since Hawthorne.
And regroup started in the early 1880's.
My hero.
But was recon used metaphorically in the way she did? Like, from out of the military and into the living room?
It is possible that Betty is a military brat.
It's vaguely possible, but she grew up in only one location as far as she's ever communicated.
Right. And going to Europe for school was a big deal.