New Slang Words

What's new at alphaDictionary.com.
User avatar
Dr. Goodword
Site Admin
Posts: 7407
Joined: Wed Feb 02, 2005 9:28 am
Location: Lewisburg, PA
Contact:

New Slang Words

Postby Dr. Goodword » Mon Feb 16, 2015 1:05 pm

I just uploaded 30 new slang words to the alphaDictionary Historical Dictionary of American Slang. You can see them at http://www.alphadictionary.com/articles/new_slang.html. The Historical Dictionary of American Slang has dates when the words were first used, helping people writing historical fiction in avoiding one of my pet peeves: using words which I know occurred more recently than the action of the novel or movie.
• The Good Dr. Goodword

Perry Lassiter
Great Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 3333
Joined: Wed Jan 03, 2007 12:41 pm
Location: RUSTON, LA
Contact:

Re: New Slang Words

Postby Perry Lassiter » Mon Feb 16, 2015 7:20 pm

Looking at the dates, "new" slang loaded must refer to the newness of the addition to the site. Only a handful are in the 20th century. I was expecting recent slang like "backdoor."

bnjtokyo

Re: New Slang Words

Postby bnjtokyo » Fri Feb 20, 2015 6:11 am

I was surprised to see 1980 listed as the date of first use for "gobsmack" because I was sure I had seen the word in one of Roald Dahl's children's stories or his account of his childhood ("Boy"). But when I looked up the publication dates for these titles I found they were only published in the 80's or later although the events related in "Boy" are mostly from the 1930's.

Google's Ngram viewer supports Dr Goodword, but "The Concise New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English" defines "gobsmacked" as an adjective meaning "speechless or at a loss for words as a result of amazement or shock" and dates it from 1971 in the UK


Return to “Site News”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 5 guests