Talk:Slippery slope
This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Dpbsmith (talk | contribs) at 13:06, March 29, 2007. It may differ significantly from current revision.
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 Jan 10, 1943. p. D5 (1 page)
- Russia and China Edge Down a Slippery Slope
- HARRISON E. SALISBURY. New York Times Apr 6, 1969. p. E3 (1 page)
- The Nation; U.S. and Cambodia: Down the 'Slippery Slope' Again?
- JOHN W. FINNEY. New York Times Oct 17, 1971. p. E2 (2 pages)
- The Slippery Slopes; When one question leads to another
By Robert M. Smith. New York Times Aug 22, 1973. p. 37 (1 page)
- Anywhere one looks the slippery slope is covered with oil
- By JAMES CHACE. New York Times Aug 24, 1975. p. 230 (2 pages)
- ESSAY Down the Slippery Slope
- By William Safire. New York Times Apr 23, 1981. p. A23 (1 page)
- On the Slippery Slopes of Summitry
- By BERNARD GWERTZMAN. New York Times Jan 9, 1983. p. E4 (1 page)
- On the Slippery Slope To Another Vietnam
- HENRY R. LABOUISSE. New York Times Mar 16, 1986. p. 215 (1 page)
- Italy's Communists on Slippery Slope
- By ROBERTO SURO. New York Times Jun 21, 1987. p. E2 (1 page)
- The Cheap Dollar's Slippery Slope
- By Michael Harrington. New York Times 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)