The chemical definition for litmus disambiguates to the political expression "litmus test."
The OED says that the political usage first appeared in 1957. link
WTH happened in 1957?
[Update: Twitter friend Meadabawdy reports that Merriam-Webster dates the usage of "Litmus Test" back to 1952: link]
That puts the coinage squarely in the McCarthy era.
[Originally posted here with plenty of "interesting" comments]
15 comments:
How long was litmus paper around?
And Joe McCarthy was old news by '57, if memory serves.
PS Webster was sometimes behind the curve on bringing words into the language (my Dad had the '39 update of the Webster New World Dictionary With Reference History And Pronouncing Gazeteer (all 3 huge volumes of it)) and they were just bringing palomino into it in the new words section.
@edutcher: I was linking McCarthy to the 1952 usage, not the 1957 one. Sorry for the lack of clarity.
@edutcher: Websters 3rd was considered to be a downgrade from Webster's 2nd. The latter is still considered the classic American English language dictionary. I have a 3rd, but not a 2nd. :(
No fight, just going on my admittedly fuzzy knowledge on the subject and wondering.
FWIW, the litmus test goes back to about 1300 AD.
Learn something new all the time.
FWIW, the litmus test goes back to about 1300 AD.
I'd like a cite for that. The chemical paper wasn't invented until the 19th century, I believe.
OK this is Wiki (I know...), but it was the only one I could find.
If you can find a better one, I shall happily stand corrected.
I use litmus paper at work nearly every day. I'm strange like that. I've also used it a thousand times as a kid and in school. Today was the first time I ever looked into where it came from and how it works. Thanks, blogger person, and thanks, internet.
Instead of debates, we should force each Presidential candidate to take a lie detector test on national TV, and not with some hack like Candy Crowley. Maybe we get Maury Povich to give it a little more respectability. Who trusts someone named Candy anyway. That's a stripper name. I bet just having such as thing would stop most of the current candidates from even trying to run.
Bernie Sanders might be the only candidate left, because he's not smart enough to lie. I'd just ask him one question: "Do you really believe the shit you say?" No matter how he answers, it's disqualifying.
What would you ask and, and of whom would you ask it?
Come to think of it, we should require journalist and judges to do it to. We just have too much lying going on in the culture. A lot of people have just given up on the truth.
Wasn't there a litmus test in the mix in 1956 when Eisenhower put pressure on Great Britain and France to back down when they began operations to take back the Suez Canal after Nasser had nationalized it? I think it was the Israeli military that was about to take back the canal with Brit and Frog backing. Anyhow, Eisenhower put the kibosh on the whole operation. And threw in a litmus test. I think the litmus test was if you take back the canal I'll be very mad at you, so think hard. That was all it took in 1956: America won't be happy with you. Wow it was great back then.
As to whether Eisenhower was right to keep the Brits and Frogs from reasserting their power in the middle east -- that's another matter. Who knows. But it was the natural thing. You're the unchallenged world hegemon? You throw you're weight around every now and then.
your not you're
I bought a tablet on eBay for a dollar.
It's convenient to test for adjustments to baking powder/baking soda with various acids, a little test to help guess how much of something to use.
But what the heck, you also test by mixing a sample with water and heating it.
edutcher said...
OK this is Wiki (I know...), but it was the only one I could find.
If you can find a better one, I shall happily stand corrected.
Ok, I see that that is an approximate date for the discovery of the dye. Many dyes are ancient and were derived from natural products. But that 1300 AD date isn't a reference to litmus paper or the political use of "litmus test."
In general, I appreciate, like or not, puns. In this case, I don't. Nor do I like it, either.
---
It's still OK to disagree: yes? no? etc. ?
It's OK not to like the pun and other things, r,l.
I don't like political litmus tests.
@r,l: Love the punner, hate the pun.
Post a Comment