Talk:Slippery slope

Article counts

Search on exact phrase "slippery slope", all article types, ProQuest Historical Newspapers The New York Times (1851 - 2003) (a database available to patrons of many public libraries)

1857-99: 5

1900-49: 41

1950-59: 11

1960-69: 23

1970-79: 36

1980-89: 144

1980 4

1981 7

1982 10

1983 8

1984 15

1985 14

1986 22

1987 20

1988 23

1989 21

1990-99: 402

2000-06: 203

Dpbsmith 06:58, 29 March 2007 (EDT)

In the ProQuest database, first ten appearances of "slippery slope" in an article title are:

• Dauntless Is the Skier Seeking Snow; The Uncertainties of Travel Fail to Halt His Quest for Slippery Slopes as Shown by a Railroad Trip to Snow Valley Above Manchester, Vt.

By GEORGE H. COPELAND. New York Times (1857-Current file). New York, N.Y.: Jan 10, 1943. p. D5 (1 page)

• Russia and China Edge Down a Slippery Slope

HARRISON E. SALISBURY. New York Times (1857-Current file). New York, N.Y.: Apr 6, 1969. p. E3 (1 page)

• The Nation; U.S. and Cambodia: Down the 'Slippery Slope' Again?

JOHN W. FINNEY. New York Times (1857-Current file). New York, N.Y.: Oct 17, 1971. p. E2 (2 pages)

• The Slippery Slopes; When one question leads to another

By Robert M. Smith. New York Times (1857-Current file). New York, N.Y.: Aug 22, 1973. p. 37 (1 page)

• Anywhere one looks the slippery slope is covered with oil

By JAMES CHACE. New York Times (1857-Current file). New York, N.Y.: Aug 24, 1975. p. 230 (2 pages)

• ESSAY Down the Slippery Slope

By William Safire. New York Times (1857-Current file). New York, N.Y.: Apr 23, 1981. p. A23 (1 page)

• On the Slippery Slopes of Summitry

By BERNARD GWERTZMAN. New York Times (1857-Current file). New York, N.Y.: Jan 9, 1983. p. E4 (1 page)

• On the Slippery Slope To Another Vietnam

HENRY R. LABOUISSE. New York Times (1857-Current file). New York, N.Y.: Mar 16, 1986. p. 215 (1 page)

• Italy's Communists on Slippery Slope

By ROBERTO SURO. New York Times (1857-Current file). New York, N.Y.: Jun 21, 1987. p. E2 (1 page)

• The Cheap Dollar's Slippery Slope

By Michael Harrington. New York Times (1857-Current file). New York, N.Y.: Jan 20, 1988. p. A23 (1 page)

If you keep this, up all articles will have counts like this. Soon the entire encyclopedia will die from edit countitis, and all computers around the world will explode. ;-) --Ed Poor 08:15, 29 March 2007 (EDT)

Just tryin' to figure it out. I've got it in my head that it was a long-standing usage in Protestant rhetoric. I think it's very interesting the 1905 example in the article that calls it a "characteristic phrase" of Anglican Archbishop Frederick Temple. I looked in Pilgrim's Progress for anything about slopes or slipperiness but couldn't find anything. I have a notion that there must have been some famous book or sermon or revivalist who popularized the term but I haven't been able to find any evidence yet.

But the second question is: from the above it seems clear that, whatever was happening earlier, in the 1980s it experienced a rather sudden rise in popularity as a term in political discourse. I'm trying to figure out if there's some identifiable origin for the modern use. Dpbsmith 09:03, 29 March 2007 (EDT)