earworm (was Re: Secret OED files uncovered)

[Laurence Horn]

At 2:10 PM -0400 8/6/10, Mark Mandel wrote:
>"Earworm" ("a catchy tune that frequently gets stuck in your head") not
>suitable for OED? It's standard among my online friends.

Yes, and besides the cites below it's been covered in the the paper
of record (or CD?):
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/12/science/12EAR.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/20/opinion/20iht-edjohnson.html

or in this piece that presupposes familiarity with the musical
earworm and wonders whether words (in this case, "amygdala") can
qualify as (lexical) earworms:
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html

Maybe the OED is concerned about insidious German infiltration...


LH
>Let's see...
>
>2,130,000 rgh
>
>*
>http://www.webmd.com/mental-health/news/20030227/songs-stick-in-everyones-head
>Songs Stick in Everyone's Head
>'Earworms' Bother Women, Musicians Most
>By Daniel J. DeNoon
>WebMD Health News
>
>Feb. 27, 2003 ... Earworms are those songs, jingles, and tunes that get
>stuck inside your head. You're almost certain to know the feeling, according
>to marketing professor James J. Kellaris, PhD, of the University of
>Cincinnati.
>Nearly 98% of people have had songs stuck in their head, Kellaris reported
>at the recent meeting of the Society for Consumer Psychology.
>...
>SOURCE: "Dissecting Earworms: Further Evidence on the 'Song-Stuck-in-Your
>Head' Phenomenon, James J. Kellaris, PhD, presentation to Society for
>Consumer Psychology, Feb. 22, 2003.
>
>* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earworm
>
>* http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=ear%20worm
>1.     ear worm
>March 1, 2005 Urban Word of the Day
>Song that is stuck in your head
>I have an ear worm. I keep hearing the "Jeopardy" tune over and over and
>over.
>by maddogmary Oct 20, 2003
>
>* http://www.wordspy.com/words/earworm.asp
>Gives as earliest citation Howard Rheingold, "Untranslatable words," The
>Whole Earth Review, December 22, 1987, 2-paragraph quote
>
>m a m
>
>
>On Thu, Aug 5, 2010 at 3:01 PM, Michael Quinion <
>wordseditor at worldwidewords.org> wrote:
>
>>  From the Daily Telegraph: "Secret vault of words rejected by the Oxford
>>  English Dictionary uncovered". Wurfing, polkadodge and nonversation are
>>  among the words stored in secret files after being rejected for inclusion
>>  by the Oxford English Dictionary, it has been disclosed
>>
>>  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/7926646/Secret-
>>
>>vault-of-words-rejected-by-the-Oxford-English-Dictionary-uncovered.html<http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/7926646/Secret-%0Avault-of-words-rejected-by-the-Oxford-English-Dictionary-uncovered.html>
>>
>>  --
>>  Michael Quinion
>>  Editor, World Wide Words
>>  Web: http://www.worldwidewords.org
>>
>>  ------------------------------------------------------------
>>  The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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