"um-weird"

[Geoff Nathan]

I have a distinct recollection of Barbara Partee (who is not, I don't believe, on this list) using 'um' by itself to mean girl/boyfriend with whom one is living.  No particular meaning of hetero vs homosexual relationship--in fact almost certain hetero.
She explained the etymology as what a parent says when introducing the young couple:
'This is my daughter and her um...'
But she used it as an ordinary count noun.  'We're having a barbecue.  Spouses and ums are invited.'
Date:  Summer 1981.

Geoffrey S. Nathan
Faculty Liaison, C&IT
and Associate Professor, Linguistics Program
+1 (313) 577-1259 (C&IT)
+1 (313) 577-8621 (English/Linguistics)

----- "Benjamin Zimmer" <bgzimmer at BABEL.LING.UPENN.EDU> wrote:

> From: "Benjamin Zimmer" <bgzimmer at BABEL.LING.UPENN.EDU>
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Sent: Saturday, September 12, 2009 9:10:10 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern
> Subject: Re: "um-weird"
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Benjamin Zimmer <bgzimmer at BABEL.LING.UPENN.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: "um-weird"
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On Sat, Sep 12, 2009 at 11:04 AM, Jesse Sheidlower <jester at panix.com>
> wrote:
> >
> > On Sat, Sep 12, 2009 at 11:00:43AM -0400, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> > > Many years ago when the list was young someone began to refer to
> erotica as
> > > "um, literature."  E.g.: "The word maily shows up in certain sorts
> of, um,
> > > literature"
> > > Wilson may have been involved in this.
> >
> > I think the original was "um-friend", from "This is my, um,
> > friend," and IIRC this was well before Wilson's involvement in
> > the list (but I'm too lazy to search right now).
>
> First appearance that I'm aware of was in the May 1996 issue of
> _Wired_ (Jargon Watch):
>
> ---
> http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/4.05/jargon_watch.html
> Umfriend
> A sexual relationship of dubious standing. "This is Dale, my... um...
> friend."
> ---
>
>
> --Ben Zimmer
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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