Elsewhere I mentioned a bit of Rep. Nancy Pelosi's January 4 acceptance speech as Speaker of the House of Representatives. Let me quote a full paragraph.
"This is an historic moment - for the Congress, and for the women of this country. It is a moment for which we have waited more than 200 years. Never losing faith, we waited through the many years of struggle to achieve our rights. But women weren't just waiting; women were working. Never losing faith, we worked to redeem the promise of America, that all men and women are created equal. For our daughters and granddaughters, today we have broken the marble ceiling.
Is this legit, or is it Pelosi's coinage? I find almost over 75,000 ghits, but almost 2/3 of them vanish if you eliminate those including the word "Pelosi", and many of those that remain have to do with literal ceilings made of marble.
It's understandable. People have often spoke of a glass ceiling in business. This marble ceiling Ms Pelosi speaks of has to do with the hallowed halls of gummint.
Could be. Time will tell, and if I were a betting man I'd wager on your side of the question.
My question, however, was a different one: as of now, does it have enough currency to be considered a term suitable for the dictionary? What do we wordcrafters think?
If, as has been implied, it is a very recent coinage in America, I should think any dictionary would be wise to see if it stayed around a while before even considering it.
Build a man a fire and he's warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.
