"Ads by Google" ?

[Mark Bourgeois]

Mark:

I was just giving Joe a hard time.  I have to believe the etymology of the term is fascinating.  Still, I think one could stick with "the medical term has carried over into common usage" and save a lot of heartache, no?

 

No.  You are dealing with a group whose members consist of:
1. Obsessive-compulsives¹;
2. Lawyers;
3. Both 1 and 2.

Mark

¹Etymology: 1927 D. K. HENDERSON & R. D. GILLESPIE Text-bk. Psychiatry xiv. 399 ‘Obsessive-compulsive’ state is applied to a...condition in which the preoccupation issues in motor acts of an apparently trifling or meaningless kind.

Daryl, et al, if you use Mozilla, go to this page, click the green "install now" button and say bye-bye to "Ads by Google:"
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/10

[RJ_Daley]

Has anyone ever noticed this camoflauged little link at the bottom of thread posts?

 Report to moderator    Logged  

What a clever feature!  

[Kyle Henderson]

¹Etymology: 1927 D. K. HENDERSON & R. D. GILLESPIE Text-bk. Psychiatry xiv. 399 ‘Obsessive-compulsive’ state is applied to a...condition in which the preoccupation issues in motor acts of an apparently trifling or meaningless kind.

I hope that passage was written by and not descriptive of Mr. Henderson...

[Bob_Huntley]

Mark,

You wrote:

"Phrases.org.uk sources the figurative usage to 1925, but I'm not sure what they cite technically qualifies.  It just notes a Broadway preacher getting only "an occasional knee-jerk."

As he was a preacher not a physician, surely his getting "an occasional knee jerk" could only have been in response to his words, not a bash on the patella with a hammer. I would hazard a guess that this does indeed count.

Bob

[Mark Bourgeois]

Bob,

I apologize; I did not pay careful attention to the 1925 usage.

In fact, it does not count, not in the sense of Joe's usage as I understand it (knee-jerk reaction).

The 1925 usage of "knee jerk," as in "gets only an occasional knee jerk" -- note as noun not as adjective -- was in the language, but as "involuntary spasmodic reactions of the limbs or features, esp. resulting from religious excitement." (OED)

This usage in fact dates back to the 1800s. Joe's meaning differs, and not only because his was a modifier rather than a noun.  I guess it could be extrapolated into a "knee jerk reaction" but that's not the usage.

So -- wait, you're baiting me, aren't you?

$#%$%$@#,
Mark

[Michael Powers]

I didn't notice them until I read the thread.  I don't care what Ran puts up here.  It's his site and we all benefit from the CBC, Interviews, DG, etc.  Whatever he needs to do to keep it rolling is fine with me.  

[J Sadowsky]

I didn't notice them until I read the thread.  I don't care what Ran puts up here.  It's his site and we all benefit from the CBC, Interviews, DG, etc.  Whatever he needs to do to keep it rolling is fine with me.  

Nail meet head.

[Bob_Huntley]

Mark,

Yes.

Bob