(quasi-)neologisms

[Jesse Sheidlower]

On Mon, May 09, 2005 at 11:10:27AM -0400, Laurence Horn wrote:
> From a recent novel featuring life among 20-somethings in New York.
> OK, one of these is evidently not new, but represents an unfamiliar
> construction to me:
>
> "obsessive much?" as a query, evidently a rhetorical question, to
> which the anticipated (non-vocalized) answer is "Yes, X is/are indeed
> very obsessive (about whatever it is)".  Michael Adams can perhaps
> tell us whether this is a Buffyism.  A quick tour of google hits
> (703, some but not most of which are false positives involving
> sentence breaks between the "obsessive" and the "much") doesn't
> indicate this, but it *sounds* like a Buffyism.  Which doesn't of
> course mean that it was first launched on the show, of course.

It was popularized on Buffy, though not first found there, as
the OED entry makes clear:

 h. colloq. (orig. U.S., freq. ironic). With a preceding
adjective, infinitive verb, or noun phrase, forming an
elliptical comment or question.
  The use was popularized by the film _Buffy, the Vampire
Slayer_ and the television series derived from it.

  1988 D. WATERS Heathers (film script) 15 God Veronica, drool
much? His name's Jason Dean. 1988 D. WATERS Heathers (film
script) 86 Heather Duke. It was J.D.'s idea! He made out the
signature sheet and everything. Now will you sign
it. Veronica. (queasy) No. Heather Duke. Jealous much? 1992
J. WHEDON Buffy the Vampire Slayer (film script) 8 A stranger,
walking the other way, bumps into Buffy, doesn't
stop... Buffy. Excuse much! Not rude or anything. 1992
J. WHEDON Buffy the Vampire Slayer (film script) 25 Pike and
Benny have entered the diner, quite drunk... Kimberly (to the
other girls) Smell of booze much. 1998 M. BURGESS & R. GREEN
Isabella in Sopranos (television shooting script) 1st Ser. 1
42 Anthony Jr. Probably I can't go to that dance now
either. Meadow. God, self-involved much? 2001 Cosmopolitan
Dec. 178 You've seen them: the kinds of couples who finish
each other's sentences... Jealous much? Damn right.

Jesse Sheidlower
OED