"Bootylicious"

[Jonathan Lighter]

Maybe OED has more extensive context than what appears in the cites. If "bootylicious" originally meant something like "ass-like," it would be negative.

  In that case the "-licious" element would have exerted a powerful influence on people to reagard the word as positive. And since "booty" means "sex" at least as often as "backside," _oil'a!_

  JL

Scot LaFaive <spiderrmonkey at HOTMAIL.COM> wrote:
  ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: Scot LaFaive
Subject: "Bootylicious"
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Not sure if this has ever been discussed, but after virtually flipping thro=
ugh the OED today, I ran across "bootylicious." First I was surprised that =
it was in the OED already, but then I was confused by the first sense: "Of =
rap lyrics: bad, weak." Is this true? I'll admit that "bootylicious" isn't =
part of my normal vocabulary (esp. not back in '92 and '96 when the OED cit=
ations are from), but it seems really odd to me that it means bad or weak. =
The two citations are below.
1992 =91SNOOP DOGGY DOGG=92 Fuck Wit Dre Day (song) in =91Dr. Dre=92 Chroni=
c (album), Them rhymes you were kickin were quite bootylicious.
1996 =91So when you see Dre, a DJ on the Mic=92 in alt.rap (Usenet Newsgrou=
p) 26 Nov., He's great on =91100 Miles=92, but his rhymes are quite bootyli=
cious on =91Efil4zaggin=92.
Am I the only one who gets the opposite sense as the OED here?
=20
Scot
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