Slang Word-Coiners

[James A. Landau]

Alfred Hitchcock invented (?) "maguffin" and probably a few others.

In a message dated 03/21/2002 3:33:47 PM Eastern Standard Time,
bookman at unixmac.com writes:

> I cannot post to the list from this address,  but THAT DOES NOT COMPUTE
>  probably dates from the forties. It was  popularized by a sixties TV show
>  [ First broadcast: September 27, 1964    Last broadcast September 8, 1965 ]
>  MY LIVING DOLL  [ featuring  Rhoda the Robot ] staring Bob
>  Cummings and Julie Newmar  [ as Rhoda ].
>
>  SEE:
>  http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Academy/8035/dollstory.html
>
>  SEMCI 6/99
>  ... Robert Cummings sitcom "My Living Doll," Julie Newmar's robotic
> character often would
>  respond to things she didn't understand by saying, "That does not compute
...
>
>  www.roughnotes.com/rnmag/june99/06p36.htm - 10k - Cached - Similar pages
>
>  www.thevalkyrie.com/stories/1misc11/doll.txt
>  MY LIVING DOLL by Anthony Durrant Anthony Durrant 1st NA ... Father!
Father!
> ” Cagey
>  snapped. “What is ‘Father?’ That does not compute.” “His male parent ...
>  31k - Cached - Similar pages
>
>  Mid Mensan Vol XVII No 8
>  ... 9. Hare Krishna. 10. "Dark Horse". That Does Not Compute. 1. Rosie the
> Robot. 2. Dr.
>  Noonian Soon. 3. Robot. 4. "My Living Doll". 5. "RoboCop-the Series". 6.
> Bender ...
>  www.mid-hudson.us.mensa.org/text/200201.htm - 54k - Cached - Similar pages

Guess I was wrong about Star Trek originating "that does not compute"
---I haven't seen the other TV shows you mention.

And definitely it's "beam me up".  "Beam me down" does not make sense in the
context I was using.

In a message dated 03/14/2002 9:47:16 PM Eastern Standard Time,
Bapopik at AOL.COM writes:

>    In the NY studio, MSNBC was on the tv, with closed captioning.  Brian
> Williams (so the screen said) described the "pinned-up anger" in the Middle
> East.
>     Pinned up?  Not pent up?  A few Playboy bunnies get everybody down

This gives us another slang-coining source: Playboy Magazine.
"Playboy", "Playmate", "bunny", and "centerfold" all received new meanings
via that magazine.In a message dated 03/21/2002 4:11:42 PM Eastern Standard
Time, fortson at FAS.HARVARD.EDU writes:


>  sandwich called a "Dagwood" from "Blondie" (though I don't know if it has
>  anything beyond a vague definition); "Brainiac" from Marvel Comics or DC
>  Comics...

Brainiac, I am pretty sure, originated in the Superman comic books.  Brainiac
was the villain who stole the city of, I think, Kandor from the planet
Krypton and put it into a bottle.

There is no standard Dagwood sandwich.  The term refers to any ad hoc
sandwich that has at least ten or fifteen layers.  Heinlein used the term
once, in _Glory Road_ (ca. 1964).


In a message dated 03/21/2002 3:03:08 PM Eastern Standard Time,
dave at WILTON.NET writes:

> I don't think TV coinages are rare at all, but many are faddish and drop out
>  of the lingo after a brief while. I'd put "Mork calling Ork" in this
>  category--if you said that now, people would just stare at you. It may be
>  that broadcast TV is too generally familiar to create long-lasting slang.
>  The words and phrases gain too much exposure, too fast. And there is no
>  association with a particular social group that keeps them current or lends
>  them cachet. Hence, they are faddish.

I think you have answered my question.  I was of course thinking of slang and
catchphrases that survive long after the show is off the air, such as
"Cowabunga" which is not from "The Simpsons" but rather from Howdy Doody
(1947-1960).  "Cowabunga" was the catchphrase of Chief Thunderthud, who
himself created a slang term during the Vietnam War---the F-105, officially
the "Thunderchief" or something, was generally known as the "Thunderthud" or
simply as the "Thud".  (Republic Aircraft, which built the F-105 and several
other fighter planes, always named its fighters Thunder-something.)

The only other phrase that I can recall having entered general use from Howdy
Doody was "Peanut Gallery"---but OED2 has that from 1888.


Yes, the jokie punchline "what do you mean 'we', white man" is not directly
from the radio or TV show "Lone Ranger" but is definitely derived from it.