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

[Ray Saintonge]

Daniel P. B. Smith wrote:

>>Date: Tue, 3 Apr 2007 13:09:50 -0700
>>From: "phoebe ayers" <phoebe.wiki at gmail.com>
>>
>>A nice example :)
>>
>>Well, the OED, generally recognized as the gold standard in  
>>etymology, lists
>>the first use of the term in a figurative sense ("leading to  
>>disaster")  in
>>1951: *"1951* J.
>>FLEMING<http://dictionary.oed.com/help/bib/oed2-f.html#j-fleming>
>>*Man who looked Back* x. 132 You go off down the slippery slope;  
>>it'll do
>>you good." There are two more quotations, one from 1964 and one  
>>form 1979.
>>There are of course earlier uses of the phrase but they are not  
>>meant in the
>>same way. Seems to me that to really make your case based on your  
>>original
>>research in the NYT, you'd need to check every single use of the  
>>citation to
>>make sure they were talking about a slippery slope (figuratively,  
>>as in
>>leading to disaster) and not a slippery slope (literally). Did you  
>>do this?
>>    
>>
>
>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
>
A wonderful piece of research!  It's the kind of thing that should be in 
Wiktionary.

It might be interesting to investigate the similar term "slippery ground".

Ec