gobsmack

[Jesse Sheidlower]

On Tue, Nov 16, 2004 at 03:29:22PM -0600, Matthew Gordon wrote:
> Any Brits here?
> I heard Jeff Greenfield, an American CNN political analyst, say something
> like "These numbers gobsmacked the pollsters." I've only ever heard this
> word used in the passive (e.g. I was gobsmacked.).
> Is this active voice form really used or is this (as I suspect) a misuse by
> an anglophilic American?

1991 _Daily Star_ 24 Dec. 33/1 There's Kenny Dalglish, for
example. Old Smiler himself gobsmacked us all when he hurtled
out of Anfield in '91 blaming the stress of it all for his
unexpected exit.

1991 `J. GASH' _Great California Game_ (1992) iii. 25 The
exhibition gobsmacked me. [a UK source, despite the title]

2000 _Sunday Times_ 27 Aug. (News Review section) 2/7, I was on
the road a great deal doing personal appearances or opening
supermarkets or turning up on chatshows like Wogan, Aspel or
Woman's Hour, invitations that absolutely gobsmacked me.

Jesse Sheidlower
OED