Nipply

[Lynne Murphy]

I used to live w/ someone (female) who would go outside in the morning to check the
weather--or, as she used to say, 'take my readings on the nipple-ometer'.
She'd return a moment later with the report on whether it was 'nipply' today or
not.  This was ca. 1990.  I'm sure it's the kind of term that's been re-coined
a thousand times.

Lynne

>
> It's fascinating to me how terms become "viral," and seemingly, all of a
> sudden, pop up everywhere at once. Take "nipply," meaning that there's a
> chill in the air. I'm not sure when I first heard this, but it's
> definitely not new. I hadn't heard it used in years, but now, I've heard
> it three times in the past few weeks and someone just submitted it to
> the Jargon Watch column. This go-round, I think I first heard it used by
> an extreme sports figure (Johnny Mosley? Tony Hawk?) on television
> (obviously a significant broadcast point for slang). Then a computer
> programmer friend used it in a phone conversation the other day and a
> San Francisco computer developer just sent it to me as a Jargon Watch
> item (obviously unaware that it's not a new term). Then my wife used it
> last night when I asked her how cold it was outside as we were leaving
> for dinner. My wife watches little TV and doesn't hang out online. When
> I asked her, she said she'd only heard it recently, maybe at one of her
> gigs (she's a musician).
>
> I think the first time I heard the term was in an extreme sports
> context, so maybe it originates there, or is at least popular in such circles.
>