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[[User:Dpbsmith|Dpbsmith]] 06:58, 29 March 2007 (EDT)
[[User:Dpbsmith|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. ;-) --[[User:Ed Poor|Ed Poor]] 08:15, 29 March 2007 (EDT)
: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. ;-) --[[User:Ed Poor|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. [[User:Dpbsmith|Dpbsmith]] 09:03, 29 March 2007 (EDT)