The most recent 20 comments posted to Making Light by Nicholas Waller:

Teresa's post didn't mention first citation, though. Have a look at http://www.jessesword.com/sf/view/336 , which is on atomics: "Charlie Petit submitted a cite from a reprint of Lester del Rey's "Nerves"; Mike Christie verified this in the 1942 original magazine appearance. The OED has a 1919 example in a scientific journal."

Jesse's Word "is run by Jesse Sheidlower, Editor-at-Large of the Oxford English Dictionary. Feel free to look for my name on the OED Staff Page if you have any question about the validity of this site. The main public area of this site is the Science Fiction Citation project at http://www.jessesword.com/sf, which everyone is welcome to explore."

There's a whole list of words there.

I believe the OED accepts earliest use in various media, even, if I remember correctly the relevant BBC "Balderdash and Piffle" programme about hunting down first uses of words for the OED, a schoolgirl's handwritten autograph book. [googles]. Yes, see the first citation for "phwoar" at http://www.oed.com/bbcwords/phwoar.html where the girl writes, in 1976, in praise of a teacher: "We love Mr Blackburn's legs. phwor! cor! wow!!! phew!"

And a 1972 Monty Python gramophone record is the first citation for the phrase "something for the weekend?" (meaning, "do you want some condoms?").
http://www.oed.com/bbcwords/weekend.html

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