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Line 46: − − :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." − ::—William Safire, 2002<ref>Safire, William, "On Language: A phrase that is the thin edge of a wedge." ''The New York Times, April 2002, p. E24. Safire himself was the author of a political essay that appeared in the Times April 23, 1981, p. A23, with the title ''Down the Slippery Slope.</ref>
Rework. See talk page for basis of "emerged in the 1970s and 1980s."
This sort of argument is generally recognized as a [[logical fallacy]].
This sort of argument is generally recognized as a [[logical fallacy]].
While examples of usage in the modern, metaphorical sense can be found in the early 1900s, its use as a common element in American political rhetoric emerged in the 1970s and gathered momentum in the 1980s. It did not seem to have any specific connection to any single issue. Its first appearance in a New York Times article title was in 1969, "Russia and China Edge Down a Slippery Slope." Headline examples from the 1980s include "On the Slippery Slope To Another Vietnam," "Italy's Communists on Slippery Slope," "The Cheap Dollar's Slippery Slope," etc.
==Usage and history==
While examples of usage in the modern, metaphorical sense can be found in the early 1900s, its use as a common element in American political rhetoric emerged in the 1970s and gathered momentum in the 1980s. It does not seem to have had any specific connection to any single issue. Its first appearance in a New York Times article title was in 1969, "Russia and China Edge Down a Slippery Slope." Headline examples from the 1980s include "On the Slippery Slope To Another Vietnam," "Italy's Communists on Slippery Slope," "The Cheap Dollar's Slippery Slope," etc.
In a 2002 analysis, WIlliam Safire wrote:
: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."
::—William Safire, 2002<ref>Safire, William, "On Language: A phrase that is the thin edge of a wedge." ''The New York Times, April 2002, p. E24. Safire himself was the author of a political essay that appeared in the Times April 23, 1981, p. A23, with the title ''Down the Slippery Slope.</ref>
==Quotations illustrating use==
==Quotations illustrating use==
:We cannot give up any portion of our claim until the question of interallied debts has been settled. We have the right and duty to guarantee ourselves against the possibility of a diminution of our claim by the international financiers.... If today Germany obtained any remission of her debt she would profit.... It was by far the wisest policy to hold fast at the top of that slippery slope."
:We cannot give up any portion of our claim until the question of interallied debts has been settled. We have the right and duty to guarantee ourselves against the possibility of a diminution of our claim by the international financiers.... If today Germany obtained any remission of her debt she would profit.... It was by far the wisest policy to hold fast at the top of that slippery slope."
::—French premier Raymond Poincaré, Nov. 16, 1923<ref>James, Edwin L. (1923), "French Premièr Retorts," ''The New York Times,'' November 17, 1923, p. 1</ref>
::—French premier Raymond Poincaré, Nov. 16, 1923<ref>James, Edwin L. (1923), "French Premièr Retorts," ''The New York Times,'' November 17, 1923, p. 1</ref>
==Slope to perdition==
==Slope to perdition==