Sure. Still no; there are examples of "ten-foot bargepole" at least from the early 1970s in UK use.

Oops I now understand your actual question, from the other replies. Sorry.

Screenshot of the OED entry for "I wouldn't touch it with a ten-foot pole" + variants. P.2. 1838– Originally U.S. I wouldn't touch it (also him, her, etc.) with a ten-foot (also forty-foot) pole: I refuse to have anything to do with (a person or thing). Cf. I wouldn't touch it (also him, her, etc.) with a barge pole at barge pole n. Phrases 1838 She was jest as good as mine, till you com a goin arter her, and now I can't touch her with a forty foot pole. Huron Reflector (Norwalk, Ohio) 19 June 1843 Senator Lahm, and Representatives Kilgore and Martin,..would not touch it [sc. a piece of legislation] with a ten foot pole. They knew it would not work. Ohio Repository (Canton, Ohio) 5 October

The OED has a first example of "forty-foot pole" in 1838, with "ten-foot pole" in 1864. The first example of "wouldn't touch it with a bargepole" is 1861 (rare in US). Both are thus far earlier than Krusty, who was jocularly adding "clown" to the earlier expression.

I am not a gardener at all, but when I go to the Rose Garden at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, I have always been struck by how many of the cultivars were bred by David Austin.

Today's #fandom antedatings for the Historical #Dictionary of #ScienceFiction: "filksing" n. from 1968 to 1961, and "filk singing" from 1965 to ca1961. Stay tuned for more "filk"-related antedatings next week!

sfdictionary.com/view/1028/fi...
sfdictionary.com/view/1362/fi...

I would be very disappointed to learn that @tomtomorrow.bsky.social does not have one of these.

New entry for the Historical #Dictionary of #ScienceFiction: As you know, we are obsessed with time travel, so we're delighted to bring you the verb form of "time-slip". From 1974 (describing an Aldiss story) onwards.

sfdictionary.com/view/3088/ti...

Sepia photograph of a woman in a suit jacket and head wrap, her face scribbled out. Below it, “featuring with a drawing of Lauren Gawne from Lingthusiasm

TOMORROW ON @thisguysucked.com: TGS is teaming up with @superlinguo.bsky.social and @lingthusiasm.com for an episode you won’t be able to forget, although you might really, really want to! In it, we prove that Australia has spent the past few centuries being a weird bad place.

Court Rules in Favor of Public Access to Information — Association of Research Libraries In a win for information advocates and the public, the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled that the American Society for Testing & Materials (ASTM) was unlikely...

www.arl.org/blog/court-r...

Photo of Stephin Merritt playing a ukulele on a stage, in front of a screen projecting a live-artwork accompaniment

Got to see Stephin Merritt of @themagfields.bsky.social playing "The Book of Love" on a cigar-box ukulele, at Wesley Stace (a.k.a. John Wesley Harding)'s Cabinet of Wonders. Great, great show, many other awesome acts that I didn't photograph.

And the verb, also by 1 year to 1961, in a poem by Roger Ebert. Yes, *that* Roger Ebert!

sfdictionary.com/view/2343/loc

Two small but fascinating #fandom antedatings for the Historical #Dictionary of #ScienceFiction, for "loc" 'letter of comment':

The noun by 1 year, first appearing in text written in Japanese by English speakers (thanks to @erikas.online for her help with this):

sfdictionary.com/view/1892/loc

I generally feel that the problem is words having unknown etymologies, where it's understandable that the guy in the street might think "This [acronymic] explanation is better than no explanation at all."

I'm less patient with people claiming this for known words (e.g. "news").

This is wonderful.

American Dialect Society 2027 annual meeting call for papers and posters announced! Deadline: July 31, 2026. Learn more: americandialect.org/2027-cfp/

Incredibly trivial antedating for the Historical #Dictionary of #ScienceFiction: "ish", an issue (of a periodical), from November 1937 to October 1937. But, bonus Esperanto context!

sfdictionary.com/view/1526/ish

That was the sort of behavior up with which you would not put, I guess.

Nice surprise to see @karlsteel.bsky.social in this article

New #anime entry for the Historical #Dictionary of #ScienceFiction, published after a large amount of work: "Akira slide". Best we have is only 2009, despite the fact that there are visual homages from very soon after the 1988 movie; we'd welcome any antedatings!

sfdictionary.com/view/2900/ak...

Hall of fame FT correction

#Fandom antedating of the day for the Historical #Dictionary of #ScienceFiction: "neopro", a new professional writer, from Robert Silverberg in 1967 to Bob Tucker in 1960.

sfdictionary.com/view/2584/ne...

Paging @artcrimeprof.bsky.social

“Open the Fuckin’ Strait, you crazy bastards” Remember when vulgarity in American politics still seemed almost surprising? When it was considered noteworthy that Donald Trump swears a lot? When he forced The New York Times to be less tight-ass…

Right, here it is, by @sesquiotic.bsky.social : stronglang.wordpress.com/2026/04/07/o...

I assumed it was a book-sized book with a phone-sized image on the cover; but it is in fact a rather small book.

Picture of my hand holding a copy of Ben Lerner's novel _Transcription_

Oh look, a new book, on its publication day.

Well, at least I couldn't be better prepared....

Unusually important antedating o'the day for the Historical #Dictionary of #ScienceFiction: "time-travel" v., from 1933 to 1928. (OED has 1937.) (Also cleaned up the rest of the entry.)

sfdictionary.com/view/486/tim...

Often, for me, the "usage issue" words, where despite (or because of?) having researched/written about them at length, I can't remember which the "correct" meaning/form is supposed to be. "nonplussed", "orient/orientate", "awhile", "alright"....

Often, for me, the "usage issue" words, where despite (or because of?) having researched/written about them at length, I can't remember which the "correct" meaning/form is supposed to be. "nonplussed", "orient/orientate", "awhile", "alright"....

#Fandom antedating of the day for the Historical #Dictionary of #ScienceFiction: "fan film", a film made by fans, from 1961 to 1956 (in reference to the same film).

sfdictionary.com/view/2478/fa...