Coinages of the Type of "Sit-In"

Abstract

T HE FADDISH USE of -in as the particle in terms such as sit-in, teach-in, and buy-in expanded rapidly during the 1960s, chiefly in names for various kinds of protest demonstrations.1 Here and there, comments have appeared concerning the widespread occurrence of this -in formation, for example, in Playboy and the New York Times. The latter points out that have been sit-ins, lie-ins, stand-ins, eat-ins, shop-ins, sleep-ins, swim-ins, and sing-ins.' At the same time, a column was devoted to the first teach-in, held at the University of Michigan. AMarched-in, taught-in, sat-in, not exactly parallel constructions, were mentioned in Playboy.3 Even in Mad magazine, counterattackin and antichickenin appeared,4 but they do not seem to be the -ins that follow the type of sit-in. The Merriam-Webster editorial staff, in Word Study, quoted a letter to a reader in which the source of sit-in was given insofar as it was known.5 Sit-in was traced to 1947, but apparently not much was made of this early usage. At least it did not catch on at that time. As was pointed out in Word Study, sit-in is formed from the verbal phrase sit in. There are parallels in English, such as the nouns break-in, get-up (clothes), set-up, step-in, drive-in, weigh-in, tip-in (basketball), and roll-in (games), all formed with a change in stress from the corresponding verbal phrase pattern. Although the structure of, say, sit-in and drive-in corresponds, there is definitely a semantic difference. Whereas a drive-in may be merely a place one drives his car into or even the name of the place itself, a sit-in is usually thought of as an organized demonstration of some sort, usually relating to some aspect of civil rights or to a peace effort in which a protest is being made. All latter-day -ins have been formed by analogy with sit-in, which appears to have been the first such coinage with -in and to have obtained its widest use in the early 1960s, when there were sit-in demonstrations throughout the South, mostly at segregated lunch counters. The stall-in was organized to call attention to the protests against racial discrimination. Carrying the slogan, Drive a while for freedom, those who participated