George Ade, Humorist, Playwright, Columnist – and Champion of a Now-Ubiquitous Word

George Ade (left), working at his home in Indiana.

A century ago, you wouldn’t have to be told who George Ade was. Regrettably, that’s not the case today. He was an acclaimed humorist, from Indiana and then Chicago, writing a column, “Stories of the Streets and of the Town,” at the turn of the 20th century in the Chicago Record, as well as the book Fables in Slang. He wrote plays too, including the first play about American football, and his money was behind the Ross-Ade Stadium, which is sti...