"poser" (before 1990?)

[Baker, John]

        This appears to be a usage from the Boston Globe, 1/31/1981, though it sounds a bit odd and I don't know what that apostrophe or single quote mark is doing after "up-ups":

        <<Now, surrounded by many posers and up-ups,' the Mayor acts like the city can not function without an expensive cheese dip.>>

        Here's an unambiguous usage from the New York Times, 4/27/1984:

        <<But by his senior year, he said, punk had lost its taste, "like stale gum." He was turned off by what he called "posers" - "kids who shave their heads for a year and then go to N.Y.U.">>

        I'm frankly unsure if I heard this in the 1980s or not, since I wasn't sure whether someone was being called a poser or a poseur.


John Baker



-----Original Message-----
From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU]On Behalf
Of Jonathan Lighter
Sent: Wednesday, June 01, 2005 10:35 AM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: "poser" (before 1990?)


Was anybody using the teenage term "poser" before 1990? That's the earliest date I've found on Usenet.

A "poser," for those who in the dark, is a shallow but usu. self-assured show-off with only a faddish interest in some popular activity, social group, musical style, consumer durable, etc.; a "poseur," more or less, but in less refined circles.

JL


---------------------------------
Discover Yahoo!
 Stay in touch with email, IM, photo sharing & more. Check it out!