Hastings-haters

Benjamin Zimmer bgzimmer at BABEL.LING.UPENN.EDU
Wed Nov 29 20:12:39 UTC 2006


In his announcement that he would not seek the chairmanship of the
House intelligence committee, Rep. Alcee Hastings released a statement
ending with this line:

"Sorry, haters, God is not finished with me yet."

<http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/002049.php>

That's presumably the hiphop sense of "hater", short for
"player-hater" (defined by the new OED entry as "a person who is
jealous of the success of others", with cites back to 1993).

Interesting to hear that term coming from a congressman, as opposed to
a rapper, sports star, etc.


--Ben Zimmer

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org



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