It's amaze

[Dan Goncharoff]

According to imdb, the word was used in the 2009 movie "I Love You, Bro",
which may have contributed in small way to its popularity, or at least its
recognition.

DanG


On Wed, Dec 11, 2013 at 12:35 PM, Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at gmail.com> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: It's amaze
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On Wed, Dec 11, 2013 at 8:35 AM, Christopher Philippo wrote:
> >
> > On Dec 11, 2013, at 7:46 AM, Amy West <medievalist at W-STS.COM> wrote:
> >
> > > A fellow English adjunct, who’s younger than me, just ranted on FB
> about
> > > hearing Malcolm MacDowell say “amaze balls" (as she wrote it) on a TV
> > > commercial (Sprint?). My colleague was apoplectic. Does this count as
> > > catching on?
> > >
> > > I don't understand the -balls suffix.
> >
> > There’s several ads like that; “Totes McGotes” is also used in them and
> > evidently means “totally.”  The intention in using McDowell and James
> Earl
> > Jones is humor, though I’m not sure why the company would think it would
> > encourage anyone to spend money on their product.  Perhaps they’re aiming
> > for the demographic that uses those words, which must be tweeners or
> younger.
>
> Here's the commerical in question, one in a series in which McDowell
> and Jones dramatically reenact online interactions among young people
> for comic effect:
>
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRibRj770J8
>
> Reminds me of Steve Allen's straight-faced dramatic reading of
> "Be-Bop-A-Lula" back in the day:
>
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpxhEoV5IsE
>
> As for how you get from "amaze" to "amazeballs," this Slate piece has
> some insights:
>
>
> http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2012/12/27/who_coined_amazeballs_and_why_do_they_hate_humanity.html
>
> --bgz
>
> --
> Ben Zimmer
> http://benzimmer.com/
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

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