Word Origins
BULLET Wouldja believe this is from a FRENCH word? In French, boule is ball, boulette is the diminutive of boule. This was Anglicized to bullette for 'cannon ball'(Not Coach Wells) in 1557; the modern spelling came during the 1650s, its current use as a small projectile launched by a firearm came in the early 1700s.
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Barbecue
This American contribution to international cuisine actually originated in the Caribbean, and the word comes to us via Spanish from its Indian roots. The original sense of barbecue is that of a raised, wooden (later metal) framework used for either sleeping upon or curing meats. The Indians of Guiana called it a babracot and the Haitians a barbacòa. The Spanish acquired the Haitian word and it came into English from the Spanish.
The earliest English citation, used for a sleeping platform, is from 1697, in William Dampier's A New Voyage Round The World:
And lay there all night, upon our Borbecu's, or frames of Sticks, raised about 3 foot from the Ground.
By 1733 the word was being used for an open-air, social gathering featuring the grilling of meat
This American contribution to international cuisine actually originated in the Caribbean, and the word comes to us via Spanish from its Indian roots. The original sense of barbecue is that of a raised, wooden (later metal) framework used for either sleeping upon or curing meats. The Indians of Guiana called it a babracot and the Haitians a barbacòa. The Spanish acquired the Haitian word and it came into English from the Spanish.
The earliest English citation, used for a sleeping platform, is from 1697, in William Dampier's A New Voyage Round The World:
And lay there all night, upon our Borbecu's, or frames of Sticks, raised about 3 foot from the Ground.
By 1733 the word was being used for an open-air, social gathering featuring the grilling of meat
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Bats In The Belfry
While we are on the subject of belfries, the phrase bats in the belfry is an Americanism dating to 1899. This phrase is the source of the sense of bats or batty meaning eccentric or insane, which both appear in the first decade of the 20th century. A belfry is a likely place to find bats and the phrase is simply a jocular expression similar to not playing with a full deck or his elevator does not run all the way to the top. In this case the belfry represents the head and brain and bats were chosen for alliterative purposes and because the creatures can be found there.
While we are on the subject of belfries, the phrase bats in the belfry is an Americanism dating to 1899. This phrase is the source of the sense of bats or batty meaning eccentric or insane, which both appear in the first decade of the 20th century. A belfry is a likely place to find bats and the phrase is simply a jocular expression similar to not playing with a full deck or his elevator does not run all the way to the top. In this case the belfry represents the head and brain and bats were chosen for alliterative purposes and because the creatures can be found there.
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Bedlam
Bedlam is a Middle English form of Bethlehem, referring to the Judean city where Christ was born.
The sense meaning madness, uproar, or confusion comes from the Hospital of Saint Mary of Bethlehem in London. The hospital was founded as a priory in 1247 and is first mentioned as a hospital in 1330. By 1402 it was known for housing lunatics.
In 1547 the hospital was formally incorporated as a royal foundation for the care of the insane. The modern sense of a madhouse or place of confusion and uproar comes from association with hospital and dates to the early 16th century.
Bedlam is a Middle English form of Bethlehem, referring to the Judean city where Christ was born.
The sense meaning madness, uproar, or confusion comes from the Hospital of Saint Mary of Bethlehem in London. The hospital was founded as a priory in 1247 and is first mentioned as a hospital in 1330. By 1402 it was known for housing lunatics.
In 1547 the hospital was formally incorporated as a royal foundation for the care of the insane. The modern sense of a madhouse or place of confusion and uproar comes from association with hospital and dates to the early 16th century.
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Beeswax
There are a couple of slang usages of beeswax, which are no related to one another.
The term, commonly used in the phrases mind your own beeswax or none of your beeswax, is an Americanism dating to the 1934. It is simply an intentional malapropism for business.
A more recent coinage is the use of beeswax as rhyming slang for income tax. It is also a play on the older rhyming slang bees and honey, meaning money. This British usage dates to the 1980s.
There are a couple of slang usages of beeswax, which are no related to one another.
The term, commonly used in the phrases mind your own beeswax or none of your beeswax, is an Americanism dating to the 1934. It is simply an intentional malapropism for business.
A more recent coinage is the use of beeswax as rhyming slang for income tax. It is also a play on the older rhyming slang bees and honey, meaning money. This British usage dates to the 1980s.
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Big Apple
This name for New York City was originally horse-racing slang that made its way into the vernacular. The metaphor is that New York City is a succulent and sweet prize to be had for those who are successful in racing or any field of endeavor.
The term was first popularized by New York sportswriter John J. Fitz Gerald, who wrote for the New York Morning Telegraph. Fitz Gerald first used the term in a column on 3 May 1921:
J. P. Smith, with Tippity Witchet and others of the L. T. Bauer string, is scheduled to start for “the big apple†to-morrow after a most prosperous Spring campaign at Bowie and Havre de Grace.
Fitz Gerald never claimed to have coined the Big Apple. Instead, he consistently gave the credit to an African-American stable hand he overheard in New Orleans in January 1920. Fitz Gerald first told the tale in an 18 February 1924 column:
The Big Apple. The dream of every lad that ever threw a leg over a thoroughbred and the goal of all horsemen. There’s only one Big Apple. That’s New York.
Two dusky stable hands were leading a pair of thoroughbred around the “cooling rings†of adjoining stables at the Fair Grounds in New Orleans and engaging in desultory conversation.
“Where y’all goin’ from here?†queried one.
“From here we’re headin’ for The Big Apple,†proudly replied the other.
“Well, you’d better fatten up them skinners or all you’ll get from the apple will be the core,†was the quick rejoinder.
By the late 1920s, the term had been adopted by New Yorkers in general and used to refer to the city as a whole, not just the New York racing circuit. A tourism advertising campaign in the 1970s that used the term as a theme reinvigorated usage and brought the name to the attention of millions who had not otherwise heard it.
There is a single 1909 use of big apple in reference to New York City, but this is apparently a unique use of a fruit metaphor and is unrelated to the later uses. It appears in Edward Martin's Wayfarer in New York and in context is a reference to New York City:
New York is merely one of the fruits of that great tree whose roots go down in the Mississippi Valley, and whose branches spread from one ocean to the other, but the tree has no great degree of affection for its fruit. It inclines to think that the big apple gets a disproportionate share of the national sap.
There are numerous false etymologies given for the Big Apple. One is that it was coined by writer Damon Runyon. It certainly sounds like something Runyon would have coined, but no one has found the phrase in any of his writings. Another claims that it arose in jazz slang. Jazz musicians certainly did use the term and there was a famous Harlem jazz club called The Big Apple, but these uses all postdate the horseracing citations.
Perhaps the most famous and persistant of the false etymologies is that The Big Apple refers to New York prostitution in the 19th century and is a metaphor for Eve's apple. There is absolutely no evidence to support this.
This name for New York City was originally horse-racing slang that made its way into the vernacular. The metaphor is that New York City is a succulent and sweet prize to be had for those who are successful in racing or any field of endeavor.
The term was first popularized by New York sportswriter John J. Fitz Gerald, who wrote for the New York Morning Telegraph. Fitz Gerald first used the term in a column on 3 May 1921:
J. P. Smith, with Tippity Witchet and others of the L. T. Bauer string, is scheduled to start for “the big apple†to-morrow after a most prosperous Spring campaign at Bowie and Havre de Grace.
Fitz Gerald never claimed to have coined the Big Apple. Instead, he consistently gave the credit to an African-American stable hand he overheard in New Orleans in January 1920. Fitz Gerald first told the tale in an 18 February 1924 column:
The Big Apple. The dream of every lad that ever threw a leg over a thoroughbred and the goal of all horsemen. There’s only one Big Apple. That’s New York.
Two dusky stable hands were leading a pair of thoroughbred around the “cooling rings†of adjoining stables at the Fair Grounds in New Orleans and engaging in desultory conversation.
“Where y’all goin’ from here?†queried one.
“From here we’re headin’ for The Big Apple,†proudly replied the other.
“Well, you’d better fatten up them skinners or all you’ll get from the apple will be the core,†was the quick rejoinder.
By the late 1920s, the term had been adopted by New Yorkers in general and used to refer to the city as a whole, not just the New York racing circuit. A tourism advertising campaign in the 1970s that used the term as a theme reinvigorated usage and brought the name to the attention of millions who had not otherwise heard it.
There is a single 1909 use of big apple in reference to New York City, but this is apparently a unique use of a fruit metaphor and is unrelated to the later uses. It appears in Edward Martin's Wayfarer in New York and in context is a reference to New York City:
New York is merely one of the fruits of that great tree whose roots go down in the Mississippi Valley, and whose branches spread from one ocean to the other, but the tree has no great degree of affection for its fruit. It inclines to think that the big apple gets a disproportionate share of the national sap.
There are numerous false etymologies given for the Big Apple. One is that it was coined by writer Damon Runyon. It certainly sounds like something Runyon would have coined, but no one has found the phrase in any of his writings. Another claims that it arose in jazz slang. Jazz musicians certainly did use the term and there was a famous Harlem jazz club called The Big Apple, but these uses all postdate the horseracing citations.
Perhaps the most famous and persistant of the false etymologies is that The Big Apple refers to New York prostitution in the 19th century and is a metaphor for Eve's apple. There is absolutely no evidence to support this.
TigerTownTurkey wrote:Beeswax
There are a couple of slang usages of beeswax, which are no related to one another.
The term, commonly used in the phrases mind your own beeswax or none of your beeswax, is an Americanism dating to the 1934. It is simply an intentional malapropism for business.
A more recent coinage is the use of beeswax as rhyming slang for income tax. It is also a play on the older rhyming slang bees and honey, meaning money. This British usage dates to the 1980s.
When I wuz a kid in Cincy, we useta say "Nunna yer bizwacks" for "none of your business".
CHAD...Aside from the African nation of that name, it originally meant a pile of paper debris & was derived from chaff, the inedible parts of grain, worthless, of ancient English etymology.
The term 'chad' as a bit of paper or plastic resulting from punching holes in punch cards or tapes was first used by the Teletype Corp. in the 1920s in their catalogue, referring to a chad tube which collected the bits of tape into a chad bin.(IBM called them 'bits' which went into a 'bit bin'.)
Modern keypunches make U-shaped holes & don't produce chads. However, they came too late for Algore in 2000.
The term 'chad' as a bit of paper or plastic resulting from punching holes in punch cards or tapes was first used by the Teletype Corp. in the 1920s in their catalogue, referring to a chad tube which collected the bits of tape into a chad bin.(IBM called them 'bits' which went into a 'bit bin'.)
Modern keypunches make U-shaped holes & don't produce chads. However, they came too late for Algore in 2000.
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Bizarre
Bizarre was borrowed into English from French in the middle of the 17th century. The current sense of odd or fantastic has been with us since the word was introduced into English. It had that meaning in French as well, although previously in French it had the meaning of brave or like a soldier.
Where the French picked up the word is somewhat unclear. In Spanish and Portugeuse, bizarro means handsome or brave and is clearly related to the French in some way, although the French word appears before the Spanish one, so it is unlikely that the French picked up the word from Spanish. Instead, it probably comes from Italian, where bizzarro means angry, and has a root, bizza, meaning fit of anger.
There is a commonly touted etymology for bizarre that claims the word is originally from the Basque bizzarra, meaning beard. This explanation is not supported by evidence.
Bizarre is unrelated to bazaar, which is from the Persian bazar, meaning marketplace
Bizarre was borrowed into English from French in the middle of the 17th century. The current sense of odd or fantastic has been with us since the word was introduced into English. It had that meaning in French as well, although previously in French it had the meaning of brave or like a soldier.
Where the French picked up the word is somewhat unclear. In Spanish and Portugeuse, bizarro means handsome or brave and is clearly related to the French in some way, although the French word appears before the Spanish one, so it is unlikely that the French picked up the word from Spanish. Instead, it probably comes from Italian, where bizzarro means angry, and has a root, bizza, meaning fit of anger.
There is a commonly touted etymology for bizarre that claims the word is originally from the Basque bizzarra, meaning beard. This explanation is not supported by evidence.
Bizarre is unrelated to bazaar, which is from the Persian bazar, meaning marketplace
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Blimp
This term for a non-rigid airship is of uncertain origin. We do know that it was coined during the First World War, but who coined it and why the rather enigmatic term blimp was chosen may never be known. Making matters worse, the various origin stories are often conflated in various sources, making sorting out the truth difficult.
First, the earliest known use of the term dates to February 1916, from Rosher's In R.N.A.S.:
Visited the Blimps . . . this afternoon at Capel.
The most popular explanation seems to be that blimp is from a classification system for airships, Class-A Rigid and Class-B Limp. The problem with this explanation is that this alleged classification system is found nowhere except in explanations of the origin of blimp and the word limp was not applied to lighter-than-air craft during WWI.
More likely, the name is a humorous appellation of the sound made when one strikes the airship's gas bag. There is even a very specific origin story associated with this. Supposedly, in December 1915 Lieutenant A.D. Cunningham, the commander of the Royal Naval Air Service station at Capel, Surrey did just this and muttered "blimp" in imitation of the sound. The officers and men present were amused and the term caught on as the name for the airships.
The Illustrated London News printed the onomatopoeic explanation in July of 1918, although it credits aviator Horace Shortt, not Cunningham, with the coinage:
Nobody in the R.N.A.S. ever called them anything but ‘Blimps’, an onomatopoeic name invented by that genius for apposite nomenclature, the late Horace Shortt.
Whether it was Cunningham or Shortt is a question.
Complicating matters further is that one of the citations in the OED gives yet another explanation. This normally could be dismissed, except for its source. In 1926, J.R.R. Tolkien offered this speculation (remember he was a distinguished Oxford linguist and staff member of the OED who only wrote fantasy stories in his spare time):
It is perhaps more in accordance with their looks, history, and the way in which words are built out of the suggestions of others in the mind, if we guess that blimp was the progeny of blister + lump, and that the vowel i not u was chosen because of its diminutive significance–typical of war-humour.
Despite the source, this explanation is certainly wrong.
This term for a non-rigid airship is of uncertain origin. We do know that it was coined during the First World War, but who coined it and why the rather enigmatic term blimp was chosen may never be known. Making matters worse, the various origin stories are often conflated in various sources, making sorting out the truth difficult.
First, the earliest known use of the term dates to February 1916, from Rosher's In R.N.A.S.:
Visited the Blimps . . . this afternoon at Capel.
The most popular explanation seems to be that blimp is from a classification system for airships, Class-A Rigid and Class-B Limp. The problem with this explanation is that this alleged classification system is found nowhere except in explanations of the origin of blimp and the word limp was not applied to lighter-than-air craft during WWI.
More likely, the name is a humorous appellation of the sound made when one strikes the airship's gas bag. There is even a very specific origin story associated with this. Supposedly, in December 1915 Lieutenant A.D. Cunningham, the commander of the Royal Naval Air Service station at Capel, Surrey did just this and muttered "blimp" in imitation of the sound. The officers and men present were amused and the term caught on as the name for the airships.
The Illustrated London News printed the onomatopoeic explanation in July of 1918, although it credits aviator Horace Shortt, not Cunningham, with the coinage:
Nobody in the R.N.A.S. ever called them anything but ‘Blimps’, an onomatopoeic name invented by that genius for apposite nomenclature, the late Horace Shortt.
Whether it was Cunningham or Shortt is a question.
Complicating matters further is that one of the citations in the OED gives yet another explanation. This normally could be dismissed, except for its source. In 1926, J.R.R. Tolkien offered this speculation (remember he was a distinguished Oxford linguist and staff member of the OED who only wrote fantasy stories in his spare time):
It is perhaps more in accordance with their looks, history, and the way in which words are built out of the suggestions of others in the mind, if we guess that blimp was the progeny of blister + lump, and that the vowel i not u was chosen because of its diminutive significance–typical of war-humour.
Despite the source, this explanation is certainly wrong.
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Blurb
In the publishing trade, a blurb is a testimonial to the book that is printed on the dust jacket. It is meant as an advertisement for the book. The origin of blurb is one of the more humorous etymologies.
Blurb was coined by the American humorist Gelett Burgess in 1907. According to his publisher, B.W. Huebsch, Burgess's book, Are You a Bromide?, had been published and was selling well. At the annual trade association dinner that year the publisher distributed some five hundred copies of the book with a special jacket, as was the custom. It was also:
the common practise to print the picture of a damsel--languishing, heroic, or coquettish--anyhow, a damsel on the jacket of every novel.
Burgess provided a drawing of a particularly buxom and pulchritudinous blonde for the jacket and labeled her Miss Blinda Blurb. The name stuck, eventually including not only drawings of buxom women but also any excessive testimonial to the book.
From Burgess's Burgess Unabridged, 1914:
Blurb 1. A flamboyant advertisement; an inspired testimonial. 2. Fulsome praise; a sound like a publisher ... On the "jacket" of the "latest" fiction, we find the blurb; abounding in agile adjectives and adverbs, attesting that this book is the "sensation of the year."
In the publishing trade, a blurb is a testimonial to the book that is printed on the dust jacket. It is meant as an advertisement for the book. The origin of blurb is one of the more humorous etymologies.
Blurb was coined by the American humorist Gelett Burgess in 1907. According to his publisher, B.W. Huebsch, Burgess's book, Are You a Bromide?, had been published and was selling well. At the annual trade association dinner that year the publisher distributed some five hundred copies of the book with a special jacket, as was the custom. It was also:
the common practise to print the picture of a damsel--languishing, heroic, or coquettish--anyhow, a damsel on the jacket of every novel.
Burgess provided a drawing of a particularly buxom and pulchritudinous blonde for the jacket and labeled her Miss Blinda Blurb. The name stuck, eventually including not only drawings of buxom women but also any excessive testimonial to the book.
From Burgess's Burgess Unabridged, 1914:
Blurb 1. A flamboyant advertisement; an inspired testimonial. 2. Fulsome praise; a sound like a publisher ... On the "jacket" of the "latest" fiction, we find the blurb; abounding in agile adjectives and adverbs, attesting that this book is the "sensation of the year."
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Booby
The term booby meaning a stupid person dates to about 1599. From Patient Grissil, written 1599-1603:
Then, mage a pooby fool of Sir Owen. God's plude, shall!
It probably comes from the Spanish bobo meaning the same thing as well as being the name of the type of bird--which are slow, stupid, and easy to kill. It is sometimes suggested that it comes from the German bube, which is sometimes used in the same sense, but the Lower German form, which would be closer to English, is boeve or boef, which makes the connection implausible.
The sense meaning breast is 20th century coinage, It is first cited from 1916 in Wentworth's American Dialect Dictionary:
bubbies, n.pl. A woman's breasts;–also boob(ie)s . . . 1916 cent.N.Y. boobies |bu'biz|. Common. Bubbies & boobs not known.
And from Henry Miller's Tropic of Cancer, 1934:
She was lying on the divan with her boobies in her hands.
Although booby is a 20th century form, it traces back to the mid-17th century with the term bubby. The ultimate origin is uncertain, but it is likely related to the German bübbi, or teat.
The term booby meaning a stupid person dates to about 1599. From Patient Grissil, written 1599-1603:
Then, mage a pooby fool of Sir Owen. God's plude, shall!
It probably comes from the Spanish bobo meaning the same thing as well as being the name of the type of bird--which are slow, stupid, and easy to kill. It is sometimes suggested that it comes from the German bube, which is sometimes used in the same sense, but the Lower German form, which would be closer to English, is boeve or boef, which makes the connection implausible.
The sense meaning breast is 20th century coinage, It is first cited from 1916 in Wentworth's American Dialect Dictionary:
bubbies, n.pl. A woman's breasts;–also boob(ie)s . . . 1916 cent.N.Y. boobies |bu'biz|. Common. Bubbies & boobs not known.
And from Henry Miller's Tropic of Cancer, 1934:
She was lying on the divan with her boobies in her hands.
Although booby is a 20th century form, it traces back to the mid-17th century with the term bubby. The ultimate origin is uncertain, but it is likely related to the German bübbi, or teat.
HOOTER...the word 'hoot' was first used in English in the 1200s to refer to an owl's call. First used as slang for the smallest possible quantity(don't give a hoot) in 1872. First used for a laugh in 1942.
Hooter, 'one who hoots', or an owl, used ever since 'hoot' was.
Used as slang for a woman's breasts since late '60s.
Hooter, 'one who hoots', or an owl, used ever since 'hoot' was.
Used as slang for a woman's breasts since late '60s.
WHACK...First used as a verb, "to strike sharply", in 1719, prolly in imitation of the sound, also becoming a noun in 1737. "Out of whack" came, in 1885, came from the finality of the auctioneer's hammer.
First used as a verb, "to kill", gangster jargon, late '60s. Adapted into police jargon, NYPD, early '70s.
First used as a verb, "to kill", gangster jargon, late '60s. Adapted into police jargon, NYPD, early '70s.
Mosta us think that EXPLOSION & IMPLOSION are from antiquity. WRONG! remember that prior to the widespread use of gunpowder that few people had seen an explosion and fewer had lived to tell about it, as almost oll of them were violent volcanic activities, or from spilling molten metal onto water.
"Explosion" was first used in 1623. Sense of rapid growth or development was first used in 1953, I. E. "population explosion".
"Implosion", "a bursting inward", was coined in 1877, based upon "explosion", in reference to the crushing effect of deep-sea pressures. The verb "implode" is from 1881.
"Explosion" was first used in 1623. Sense of rapid growth or development was first used in 1953, I. E. "population explosion".
"Implosion", "a bursting inward", was coined in 1877, based upon "explosion", in reference to the crushing effect of deep-sea pressures. The verb "implode" is from 1881.
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Boondocks
Boondocks is a relic of American colonialism. British English imported lots of words from its far-flung colonial possessions, but American colonial aspirations mainly produced words derived from Spanish and adopted with the settling of the West. This one, however, is an exception.
It derives from the Tagalog word bundok, meaning "mountain." It was adopted into the language by occupying American soldiers in the Philippines as a word meaning any remote and wild place. By 1909, only some ten years after the American conquest of the islands, the word had caught on enough to rate an entry in that year's Webster's New International Dictionary. Despite this, however, it remained primarily a military slang term, especially among Marines, until the 1960s, when, probably because of the Vietnam War, it gained wider, civilian usage.
Boondocks is a relic of American colonialism. British English imported lots of words from its far-flung colonial possessions, but American colonial aspirations mainly produced words derived from Spanish and adopted with the settling of the West. This one, however, is an exception.
It derives from the Tagalog word bundok, meaning "mountain." It was adopted into the language by occupying American soldiers in the Philippines as a word meaning any remote and wild place. By 1909, only some ten years after the American conquest of the islands, the word had caught on enough to rate an entry in that year's Webster's New International Dictionary. Despite this, however, it remained primarily a military slang term, especially among Marines, until the 1960s, when, probably because of the Vietnam War, it gained wider, civilian usage.
NERD...a term for a socially-backward, boring, weak, or out-of -fashion type person has a complicated history. This word, you may remember, was made famous on the "Happy Days" TV show, & many people believe it was coined for that show.
HOWEVER...
The word first appeared in the 1950 Dr. Seuss book, If I Ran Ehe Zoo. In the 1940s, school kids used [i]nert]/i], an alteration of 'nut', for a stupid or crazy person, and a few of them changed it to 'nerd'. If not for "Happy Days", that word woulda prolly faded into disuse by now.
HOWEVER...
The word first appeared in the 1950 Dr. Seuss book, If I Ran Ehe Zoo. In the 1940s, school kids used [i]nert]/i], an alteration of 'nut', for a stupid or crazy person, and a few of them changed it to 'nerd'. If not for "Happy Days", that word woulda prolly faded into disuse by now.