Origins of "soft core," "Yippies," "Twinkie defense"

[Sam Clements]

As to "Yippee" and "Youth International Party," the Wikipedia article on the
Party cites Krassner in a 2007 interview saying that he made up the term on
New Year's Eve of 1967, and Hoffman added the name of the party later that
night to add legitimacity.

By the second week in February in 1968, the terms were out in the popular
press.  No one else has ever come forth to argue with their claims--at
least, not that I'm aware of.

Sam Clements

----- Original Message -----
From: "Gareth Branwyn" <garethbranwyn at COMCAST.NET>
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Sunday, November 29, 2009 00:01
Subject: Origins of "soft core," "Yippies," "Twinkie defense"


>I am currently editing an article by Paul Krassner (of "The Realist"
> fame) in which he claims to have coined the terms "soft core
> porn" (1958), "Yippies" (1967) and "the Twinkie defense" (which he
> says he made up in 1979 during the trial of Dan White for the double
> execution of SF Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk).
>
> Does anyone here know more about the origins of these terms? I assume
> he made up Yippies, or was at least involved in the coinage, since he
> was a co-founder of the Youth International Party. His telling of it
> in this article makes it sound like he came up with both Youth
> International Party and Yippies (in that order), but I've read other
> accounts that say Anita Hoffman came up with Youth International Party
> after Yippies was coined, so that the group would have a more formal
> name for mainstream press purposes.
>
> Any other information folks here might have would be greatly
> appreciated.
>
> Gareth
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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