[WikiEN-l] Original research or common sense inferral?

[Marc Riddell]

on 4/3/07 6:27 PM, Daniel P. B. Smith at wikipedia2006 at dpbsmith.com wrote:
> 
> I made a sort of loosy-goosy due-diligence effort.
> 
> There were really two questions here. One was: what are some example
> of early uses in its present sense. That's sort of a separate topic.
> The second is: despite the fact that there _are_ early uses in its
> present sense, its use exploded circa 1980 or so. Based on casual
> sampling, virtually all uses after 1980 are in the present figurative
> sense. (Before that, quite a lot of them are not).
> 
> If I search _only_ for articles in which the phrase "slippery slope"
> appears _in the title_, the very first such reference is in 1943, and
> is to a literal use: "Dauntless Is the Skier Seeking Snow; The
> Uncertainties of Travel Fail to Halt His Quest for Slippery Slopes as
> Shown by a Railroad Trip to Snow Valley Above Manchester, Vt." The
> next nine span 1963 to 1988, and all are, I claim, I judge, I opine,
> the modern use. "Russia and China Edge Down a Slippery Slope;" "The
> Nation; U.S. and Cambodia: Down the 'Slippery Slope' Again?;" "On the
> Slippery Slope To Another Vietnam," etc.
> 
> So, again, what would you do here? State the common-sense inference
> ("the very first such reference is in 1943, and is to a literal use;
> the next nine span 1963 to 1988 and are all the modern use," and give
> title, date, and page of all ten in a footnote? Surely not: put
> title, date, page of all ten in the article itself?
> 
> With regard to the OED and first use in its present sense, why yes, I
> know better than that edition of the OED. First of all, William
> Safire gives a 1909 example in a 2002 column:
> 
> "The key task of the phrasedick is to find earliest uses of
> ["slippery slope"] in its present sense of "a course that leads
> inexorably to disaster." The OED tracks it to a 1951 novel, but new
> retrieval technology lets us do better than that.... We have this
> 1857 use from Chambers' Journal: "When the educated person of the
> middle class is reduced to pennilessness... what but this gives him
> the desire to struggle again up the slippery slope of fortune?"
> In both of these citations, the meaning is closer to "the greasy
> pole...." The current sense... probably surfaced in the early 20th
> century, possibly in an article by a writer in a 1909 Quarterly
> Review, published in London: "the first step down that slippery slope
> at the bottom of which lies a parliamentary government."
> 
> But new retrieval technology, namely Google Books, lets me do better
> than Safire.
> 
> I found an 1878 reference by one Bernard O'Reilly: "It is not with
> them we are concerned: they will not be taught or reformed; so, they
> will go down the steep and slippery slope on which the heartless
> move, to perdition!"
> 
> I think that's unquestionably an example of usage to mean "a course
> that leads inexorably to disaster." (Of course, I'd never draw such
> an inference; I'd just quote it and let the reader decide. The
> reference is: The Mirror of True Womanhood, A Book of Instruction for
> Women in the World, 2nd Edition, Dublin, M. H. Gill and Son,
> "Reprinted from the Thirteenth American Edition." p. 136." Actually
> the question of the year is complicated because the Google Books
> image is from an 1883 edition, but the 1883 edition says it's from
> the Thirteenth American Edition, which was published in 1878. Whether
> it was in earlier editions I don't know. But it's older than 1951 and
> by golly it's older than 1909.
> 
> And I found an 1837 reference that does not actually use the phrase
> "slippery slope," but does say: "There are points where the Christian
> must always stand on guard. His danger is seldom found in gross
> offenses... but in small indulgences, and weak compliances, where
> conscience rather doubts, than condemns. These gradually draw him
> nearer and nearer to the world, till the line of separation is lost.
> Many a Christian has glided down this slope to perdition." Osler,
> Edward (1837), Church and King," Smith, Elder and Co., London, p. 13
> 
Daniel,

Great job of research. Thanks for this.

Marc Riddell