sketched out

[Ben Zimmer]

On Mon, Jan 10, 2011 at 9:33 AM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>
> Apparently less intense than "freaked out":
>
> 2011 http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_congresswoman_shot (Jan. 10): He would
> send bizarre text messages, but also break off contact for weeks on end. "We
> just started getting sketched out about him," the friend said.
>
> In 1996-97 my undergraduates began reporting "sketchy" as meaning fishy,
> odd, shady, sinister.  It was new to me then but is quite common now.

See my recent On Language column on creepy/sketchy college slang:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/31/magazine/31FOB-onlanguage-t.html
"And just as you can be creeped out by a creepy person, you can be
sketched out by a sketchy person."

--bgz

--
Ben Zimmer
http://benzimmer.com/

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