The coinage of "Phrasedick" appears to go back to Peter Tamony; see:

http://www.umsystem.edu/whmc/invent/3939P.html

Tamony, Peter (1902-1985), Collection, 1890-1985 (C3939)

"...Phrasedick, See Dick..."

William Safire has used it, in combination with "Brigade," in three
different columns in the last six months; see:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/28/magazine/28wwln.safire.t.html?
ref=magazine
[01/28/07/]
The question the Phrasedick Brigade is asking: What inventive
speechwriter, historian or pollster gave Nancy Pelosi that phrase,
brilliantly boosting the hundred days to 100 hours?

http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/09/03/news/edsafire.php

On Jan 28, 7:10 pm, "tinwhistler" post.harvard.edu>
wrote:
[snip]

[snip]

FWIW, here's a 2003 posting at ADS-L by Fred Shapiro, in which he says
he was called a "phrasedick" in Safire's column:

http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0312A&L=ADS-
L&P=R4643&I=-3

On Jan 28, 8:37 pm, "tinwhistler" post.harvard.edu>
wrote:

Here's a shorter, clickable link:

http://tinyurl.com/2hbyb6

On Jan 28, 8:40 pm, "tinwhistler" post.harvard.edu>
wrote:

[oops, no good]

I'm trying again (this is new to me:)

http://tinyurl.com/3yvpum

"tinwhistler" post.harvard.edu> wrote

TinyURL says:
"Error: Unable to find site's URL to redirect to." Try this one:

http://tinyurl.com/3yvpum

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tinwhistler post.harvard.edu> wrote:

Is the question, how old is "Phrasedick" meaning "etymologist"? I never
heard it, but I can tell that the "dick" meaning "detective" or "police
officer" goes back to at least 1900, according to RHHDAS, which adds
that it probably comes from the Irish-English cant "dicked" meaning
"being watched," such as by a constable or guard.

On Jan 29, 5:16 am, t...@euronet.nl (Donna Richoux) wrote:
[snip]

[snip]

I'm speculating on Safire's extensive use of a seldom-used word,
"phrasedick." Thanks for the insight re the detective sense of
"dick," which I think definitely has a big part in this. The Tamony
posting I linked was just an index to an archive file - I'd really
like some info on what there is in that file on the word "phrasedick"
- but only a real-life etymologist would travel to find out the
answer. Possibly these OED2 senses of "dick" have some bearing:

Dick, n.1

...clever Dick: a clever or smart person; usu. ironical: a 'know-all';
also attrib.

tinwhistler wrote:

After noting this thread and reading, quickly, a few of the posts
therein, it has finally dawned on me that the word is "phrasedick," and
not "phasedick" as I'd been thinking heretofore.

That little 'r' makes a difference if one just notices it.



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