ATDTDA (3) Dynamitic mania, 80-86

[Tore Rye Andersen]

Monte:

>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...

a-and Mike Bailey:

>The original usage of "terrific", perhaps not completely superseded by the 
>time written about, is >the same as "terrible" - inspiring terror.
>[...]
>In this AtD passage I think both senses are active - Pynchon having 
>recently described himself in a >letter to an editor as an historical 
>novelist, concerned with original usages, but of course also with >current 
>ones.

Thanks, Monte and Mike, for that terrific crash course in the finer points 
of fin de siècle etymology. It blew me away....

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