[PW] "Gory details" phrase origin

[John Henderson]

Here are some clues.

The earliest mention in the New York Times is back in 2 October 1888  
in an article describing the sensational press coverage of a London  
murder, "Excitement over the Whitechapel murders has steadily  
increased during the day, the evening papers devoting all available  
space to the gory details."
In the NYT's coverage of the Lizzie Borden trial in 1892, the phrase  
shows up again: "Even at the recital of the gory details of the  
butchery of her parents she showed no emotion and her demeanor  
throughout was a marvel of calmness."
A high percentage of the occurrences after that are found in book  
reviews.

The earliest appearance in JSTOR is in Science back in September 1926  
( New Series, Vol. 64, No. 1653). In a "Science News" page under  
"Items," is a note that "Photographs that show up the tiniest blood  
vessels and all the gory details of major operations in natural  
colors, is one of the latest feats of medical science reported to the  
American Medical Association."
Reading through the list of citation from oldest to most recent, iI  
see that the phrase was quite popular in the early 1930s, and really  
took off in the 1960s. As was true in the NYT, the bulk of the  
occurrences are in crime reports and discussions or reviews of  
literature.

John Henderson
Ithaca College Library
jhenderson at ithaca.edu

On Jan 23, 2007, at 2:09 PM, Nina Gilbert wrote:

>
> Dear stumpers,
>
> When/where/how did the phrase "gory details" originate?
>
> I'm preparing a lecture about a historical event whose details were  
> truly gory (the events behind the opera "Un ballo in maschera" by  
> Verdi), and it would be good to know the origin of the phrase.
>
> I've tried a variety of Google searches, plus "gore" and related  
> words in OED.
>
> Thank you,
>
> Nina Gilbert
> Education and Community Programs Manager, Boston Lyric Opera
>
> ------------------------------------------------
> Nina Gilbert
> ninagilbert at yahoo.com
> ninagilbert at gmail.com
>
>
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