(quasi-)neologisms

[Michael Adams]

Jesse is right that ADJ + much predates "Buffy" -- but OED's second
quote from "Heathers" is the only known pre-"Buffy" instance of it and
the pattern seems to have been "invented" for "Heathers," then
exploited by "Buffy" such that it's a "Buffyism" more than it's
anything else.  (ADJ + much isn't the only item from "Heathers"
borrowed and developed in "Buffy.")  Eventually, outside of "Buffy,"
NOUN + much develops, apparently on the ADJ + much model, so ADJ + much
is more interesting than at first it seems -- if anyone ever uncovers
an instance of ADJ + much from between 1988 and 1997 (besides the one
in the "Buffy" film of 1992), I'd be glad to hear about it, because it
would change the picture some to know that it had a life outside of the
Heathers/Buffy relationship.  In the meantime, Larry, what's the source
of this new "Jealous much?"  Since I predicted that ADJ + much would
survive "Buffy," I'd like to see proof of my prescience!

Michael

-----Original Message-----
From: Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Sent:         Mon, 9 May 2005 11:10:27 -0400
Subject:      (quasi-)neologisms

  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.

 "tie-to-the-bedable", adj. (with a reasonably compositional
 meaning). No google hits, but the formation process is obviously
 productive.

 larry