"um-weird" (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Mullins, Bill AMRDEC]

Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

Slight antedating:

"Stargazing"
The Kansas City Star - Monday, March 6, 1995 p D1 (from Newsbank
database)

"The last straw: Quinn, 80, fathered a daughter with his much-younger
secretary 18 months ago. He's often seen with his, um, friend and their
child in public."  [re: actor Anthony Quinn]


> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On
> Behalf Of Benjamin Zimmer
> Sent: Saturday, September 12, 2009 8:10 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: "um-weird"
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
---------------
> --------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Benjamin Zimmer <bgzimmer at BABEL.LING.UPENN.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: "um-weird"
>
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
> --------
>
> On Sat, Sep 12, 2009 at 11:04 AM, Jesse Sheidlower <jester at panix.com>
> wrote:
> >
> > On Sat, Sep 12, 2009 at 11:00:43AM -0400, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> > > Many years ago when the list was young someone began to refer to
> erotica as
> > > "um, literature."  E.g.: "The word maily shows up in certain sorts
> of, um,
> > > literature"
> > > Wilson may have been involved in this.
> >
> > I think the original was "um-friend", from "This is my, um,
> > friend," and IIRC this was well before Wilson's involvement in
> > the list (but I'm too lazy to search right now).
>
> First appearance that I'm aware of was in the May 1996 issue of
> _Wired_ (Jargon Watch):
>
> ---
> http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/4.05/jargon_watch.html
> Umfriend
> A sexual relationship of dubious standing. "This is Dale, my... um...
> friend."
> ---
>
>
> --Ben Zimmer
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

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