ATDTDA (3) Dynamitic mania, 80-86

[Monte Davis]

TRA:
> Is this is explosion really terrific, or should we rather 
> regard it as terrible...

A tiny quibble: before the early 20th century the dominant sense of
"terrific" was much closer to "terrible" than to the more recent "wonderful,
outstanding, very good" -- and it's that earlier sense I heard first in this
use, although I'd be the last to rule out a deliberate vacillation between
them...