"Bootylicious"

[Benjamin Zimmer]

Sorry, Jon, didn't mean to be critical. I was just responding to
Wilson's suggestion that adjectival "booty" didn't develop until after
the publication of HDAS I. But as I noted in my followup, the
adjectival sense didn't really hit mainstream usage until c1992, so it
was still a bit too new for the first vol. of HDAS (unless you were
paying close attention to rap lyrics!).

--Ben


On 11/8/06, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> 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:
>
> 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.
>

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