Repeatedly in the past I've broached the subject of finding the earliest use of an expr without resorting to paid sites, such as the logophile uses to great advantage over us cheapskates

Meantime however, I ran across this Google algorithm...

http://news.google.com/archivesearch?hl=en&tab=wn&q=

...which permits you not only to only to search old news but to place the hits in chronological order. I wonder whether you also might not find it useful for the purpose

Last edited by dalehileman; 10/27/2006 1:51 PM.
dalehileman