"Bootylicious"

[Jonathan Lighter]

Hey, Ben, I just changed my mind !  My bad that the multi-armed Shiva of Oxford scooped me !

  I'll throw a few stones your way as soon as I can !

  JL

Benjamin Zimmer <bgzimmer at BABEL.LING.UPENN.EDU> wrote:
  ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: Benjamin Zimmer
Subject: Re: "Bootylicious"
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On 11/7/06, Wilson Gray wrote:
> On 11/7/06, Benjamin Zimmer wrote:
> > (Neither adjectival "booty" nor "booty-ass" are in HDAS or OED, sad to say.)
>
> Lighten up on poor Jon, Ben! Those meanings hadn't evolved at the time
> that HDAS began to be published.

Sorry, I neglected to give the release years for the songs I quoted:

adjectival "booty":
LL Cool J, "It Gets No Rougher" (1989)
Big Daddy Kane, "Down the Line" (1990)
A Tribe Called Quest, "Scenario" (1991)

adjectival "booty-ass":
GangStarr, "Take a Rest" (1991)
MC Serch, "Daze in a Weak" (1992)

All before the 1994 pub date for HDAS Vol. 1, I believe!

> IMO, HDAS's exposition of "boody" / "booty" is excellent.

As far as the noun goes, I definitely agree.


--Ben Zimmer

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