SNOG

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SNOG

Postby Dr. Goodword » Fri Sep 04, 2009 11:32 pm

• snog •

Pronunciation: snahg • [url=htp://www.alphadictionary.com/sounds/snog.mp3]Hear it![/url]

Part of Speech: Verb, intransitive

Meaning: To hug and kiss romantically, i.e. to bill (1890s), to bill and coo (1910s), to spoon (1920s), to make whoopee (1930s), to pet (1940s), to neck (1950s), to make out (1960-1970s), to suck face (1980-1990s).

Notes: In our definition today we listed all the US terms for hugging and kissing over the past century in (probable) chronological order: they reflect a rampant decline in sensitivity and wit as the age of practitioners dropped. Today's good British term, however, begs this service in the 21st century. Although the usual noun from this verb is snogging, how can we ignore snoggery? It is standing out there right beside snobbery—you can't miss it. And a snoggy embrace is self-evident, isn't it? We can even say, "They embraced snoggily in front of everyone." This Good Word has every form we need.

In Play: I can just hear how English-speakers around the world would replace Lover's Lane with this new possibility: "Mulholland Drive is a lonely street at night, better known as Snoggers Alley to teenagers who stop there for a bit of snoggery before going home." At least we can all move away from the horrid US expression, sucking face: "Blanche Dwight almost fainted when she saw her daughter on the front porch, snogging in the arms of their next-door neighbor's son, Dewey Trite."

Word History: Let us hope that today's word is not onomatopoetic. We would prefer thinking that the noises that emerge during snoggery are universally romantic ones. However, no one really knows where this exceptionally Good Word came from except, of course, it had to pass through Scotland on its way to London. It may have arisen as a Scottish pronunciation of snug (whence snuggle), since the Scots and northern Englishmen have an expression, snod and snog, which means "snug and smooth". But who knows?
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Slava
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Postby Slava » Fri Feb 26, 2010 8:33 pm

I love this verb, even though I don't get much opportunity to use it. It's just fun.

Though I knew what it meant beforehand, I do believe it was the Harry Potter novels that really helped make it come alive for me.

Another little factlet: I've always understood "make whoopee" as going all the way. Have I always been wrong, or did its meaning change over time?

Does anyone out there know what the new slang is? The list in definition stops in the '90s. I'm sure hip-hop, bling, and all that new jazz will have had some effect. What say ye?

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Postby saparris » Mon Mar 01, 2010 1:27 pm

Does anyone out there know what the new slang is? The list in definition stops in the '90s. I'm sure hip-hop, bling, and all that new jazz will have had some effect. What say ye?
This particular "ye" has always thought of "making whoopee" as going well beyond kissing, making out, or snogging.

I think you also have to be careful from culture to culture. In the South, "shagging" is dancing. In the UK, it's not.
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LukeJavan8
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Postby LukeJavan8 » Mon Mar 01, 2010 6:39 pm

"Snogging" is used in one of the Harry Potter movies.
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saparris
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Postby saparris » Mon Mar 01, 2010 6:47 pm

To these ears, snog is a rather unpleasant sounding word for something that's supposed to be fun.
Last edited by saparris on Sat Apr 24, 2010 8:29 am, edited 1 time in total.
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LukeJavan8
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Postby LukeJavan8 » Mon Mar 01, 2010 10:48 pm

Needless to say the person in Harry P who uses it is not
impressed either when he catches it being done.
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NEW SLANG

Postby Dr. Goodword » Tue Mar 02, 2010 12:14 am

Please use the alphaDictionary Historical Dictionary of American Slang to find 2500 English slang words, with more added (almost) every month.
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saparris
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Postby saparris » Tue Mar 02, 2010 9:03 am

Please use the alphaDictionary Historical Dictionary of American Slang to find 2500 English slang words, with more added (almost) every month.
Thanks for the reference. Being somewhat new to Alpha Agora, I am still discovering the many resources available here.

Obviously, snog is British slang and therefore is not in your slang dictionary, but concerning Slava's question about making whoopee, several web-based slang dictionaries define the term to mean "having sexual intercourse." Webster's Collegiate makes reference only to having fun or being boisterous, as does the OED in a supplement. I don't doubt that, in the 1920's, the term meant "hugging and kissing," but I'm not sure that it means the same thing to most folks today.

What do you opine?
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sluggo
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Postby sluggo » Tue Mar 02, 2010 5:54 pm

Never heard of this one, although I agree with Saparris that it's not the most sonorous synonym. Sounds like it has to do with either bad air or nasal congestion.

I'm disappointed that spark didn't make Doc's list of synonyms :?
Another little factlet: I've always understood "make whoopee" as going all the way. Have I always been wrong, or did its meaning change over time?


I think it did change over time, considering Gus Kahn used it for not only a lyric but the title of the song itself, back in 1928. Compare also the term to make love as used in movies of that era* to the more explicit meaning of a few decades later. Had either of these had the intensity they came to have later, it doesn't seem they would have been used in "polite" society.

It's prolly a progression that follows the inevitable as do the acts themselves.

(* >>Quote from the Marx Brothers movie Horse Feathers — the handsome young man is playing his ukulele and singing a love song to the lovely young girl; she looks up and says "Are you making love to me?" If you have to ask, he's doing it wrong. << (posted on this interesting page --you have to hit the "Open/Close all folders" button)
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Postby skinem » Tue Apr 20, 2010 11:42 am

I'm disappointed that spark didn't make Doc's list of synonyms :?
Nor did pitch and woo.

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Postby saparris » Tue Apr 20, 2010 12:00 pm

Nor did pitch and woo.
Nor did "grub," my least favorite snog synonym (after "snog").
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Tacitus
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Postby Tacitus » Sat Apr 24, 2010 2:34 am

My remembrance of 'snogging', the word and the activity, dates back to the 1940's in the UK and then it meant what the US calls 'petting' - a long way short of the full monte. It went on between fourteen to sixteen year olds and was an experimental introduction to the more serious event later. Later in life, or later that day for older snoggers!

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Postby saparris » Sat Apr 24, 2010 9:44 am

Image, Tacitus.

Don't be taciturn.
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