On Sun, 01 Jul 2012 09:40:06 -0700, Paul Brandon wrote: >The term appears to be somewhat older.
Yes, it appears so. A search of Jstor, which contains the journal "American Speech" and other linguistically oriented journal (as well as other types of journals), the earliest use of the term that I could find was in 1941 in the following article: Glossary of Army Slang American Speech Vol. 16, No. 3 (Oct., 1941), pp. 163-169 Published by: Duke University Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/486883 Where we find: |RAT RACE. Mounted review in Armored Force. Now this might seem like a peculiar use of the phrase "rat race" but it is only a short period of time later that we find the phrase used in the contemporary sense. Consider: Example #1: The Scientific Method and Historical Linguistics William M. Austin Journal of the American Oriental Society , Vol. 65, No. 1 (Jan. - Mar., 1945), pp. 63-64 Published by: American Oriental Society Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/594751 Which contains the following paragraph: |The article begins with a confused expose of certain confusing |names of Anatolian languages. Proto-Hittite is mentioned |(someone once referred to it by that name), thereby starting |an involved and needless argument about how Proto-Hittite is |the real Hittite but is not to be confused with Hittite, which is |really Nesian but which everybody calls Hittite. This initial |*******rat-race******** could easily be avoided by using the |term Hattic (supported by cuneiform Hattili) for Proto-ilittite. The casual use of "rat race" suggests that it is assumed that the reader will know what it means although it is not clear why. Example #2: Questions and Answers Paul Peach, John W. Tukey and Frederick Mosteller The American Statistician , Vol. 1, No. 3 (Dec., 1947), pp. 17-18 Published by: American Statistical Association Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2682536 Now, this might seem like a strange article for the term "rat race" to occur in but consider how it is used: |Answer. It may be illuminating to compare this problem with one |involving a "rat race". L. P. Crespi, (American Journal of Psychology, |55, 1942, pp. 467-517) studied the effect of the amount of reward |on the speed with which a rat would cover a certain course-sometimes |the rat sat still! Here, the use of the reciprocal of the time of running |led to a very smooth and effective analysis. I suggest that you calculate |100/ (time to reaction) and then analyze these figures. |(NOTE: Tukey provided the above answer on p18). It is interesting that Tukey cites Crespi's paper because it appears that Crespi did indeed conduct rat races though he did not refer to it as such (Note: This is relevant to Michael Britt's original request). Here is the citation: Quantitative Variation of Incentive and Performance in the White Rat Leo P. Crespi The American Journal of Psychology , Vol. 55, No. 4 (Oct., 1942), pp. 467-517 Published by: University of Illinois Press Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1417120 Example #3: There is a definitive example of the use of "rat race" in the current sense in the title of the following article: The Educational Rat-Race Arnold J. Hartoch The Modern Language Journal , Vol. 32, No. 4 (Apr., 1948), pp. 294-299 Published by: Blackwell Publishing on behalf of the National Federation of Modern Language Teachers Associations Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/318492 I leave it to others to find other examples. So, what have we learned today? (1) Article databases like PsycInfo and Jstor are your friends and can answer many questions. (2) Someone below stated "most people are wrong" and then went on to be an example of what he was asserting. Now that's what I call teaching. -Mike Palij New York University [email protected] >According to Wikipedia: > >"The trouble with the rat race is that even if you win, you're still a rat. — >commonly attributed to Lily Tomlin in People magazine (26 Dec 1977)[1], but >according to The Yale Book of Quotations (Shapiro & Epstein, p. 767), Rosalie >Maggio in The New Beacon Book of Quotations by Women states that William Sloane >Coffin said "Even if you win the rat race, you're still a rat" as chaplain of >Williams College or Yale University in the 1950s or 1960s. [2] " On Jul 1, 2012, at 9:55 AM, Louis E. Schmier wrote: > Michael, most people are wrong. The term originated with a cartoon strip > called "Joe Rat." If I remember correctly, it was the work of a NC State > student and appeared in the late '70s or early '80s in the school paper. Got > to look it up. > > > On Jul 1, 2012, at 10:46 AM, Michael Britt wrote: > >> Most people associate rats running in mazes with psychology, but aside from >> Tolman I don't know any other psychologists who used rats in their work. >> Skinner is mostly known or using pigeons (though I heard he might have used >> rats at one point). Any others? --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=18740 or send a blank email to leave-18740-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
