Hastings-haters

[Benjamin Zimmer]

In his announcement that he would not seek the chairmanship of the
House intelligence committee, Rep. Alcee Hastings released a statement
ending with this line:

"Sorry, haters, God is not finished with me yet."

<http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/002049.php>

That's presumably the hiphop sense of "hater", short for
"player-hater" (defined by the new OED entry as "a person who is
jealous of the success of others", with cites back to 1993).

Interesting to hear that term coming from a congressman, as opposed to
a rapper, sports star, etc.


--Ben Zimmer

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org