c4countdown

Jeff Clayton wrote: Hmm, give or take 400 years - late C20th according to the ODE2r.

The ODE2r gives the time at which it came into common currency, while Susie was probably talking about its first citation, which could be quite a bit earlier. Unfortunately I don't have a copy of the complete OED with which you check, but there are plenty of such people around here...

I wrote to Countdown to complain about the semi-literate use of 'times' to mean 'multiply' but they fobbed me off, indicating thaqt the OED says the usage is from late Middle English. Chambers Dictionary doesn't accept this.

This discussion about ‘times by’, whilst old, is hilarious.