Antedating of "MILF"

ADSGarson O'Toole adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM
Sun Feb 24 18:49:34 UTC 2013


Thanks for your response, Jesse. Below is a citation pointing into a
book about language published in 1995 that presented linguistic data
collected in 1992 that included the term MILF. This cite may satisfy
the properly exacting standards of the OED:

Title: Gender Articulated: Language and the Socially Constructed Self
Authors: Kira Hall, Mary Bucholtz
Editors: Kira Hall, Mary Bucholtz
Year: 1995
Publisher: Psychology Press
Start Page: 293
Quote Page: 294
(Google Books Preview)

The data was given using a tabular format. Below I have reformatted
the entry for MILF by interspersing the headings:

http://books.google.com/books?id=6d37lDUcLYEC&q=Contra#v=snippet&q=Contra&f=false

[Begin heading and data from book]

Appendix II
Terms for Women, Defined by Linguistics 55 Students, Spring 1992

Lexical entry: MILF
Meaning: “mother I'd like to fuck," attractive older woman
Student comments about slang users or usage: college students from
East Contra Costa [California]
Sex: m
Etnicity; European

[End heading and data from book]


On Sun, Feb 24, 2013 at 1:08 PM, Jesse Sheidlower <jester at panix.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jesse Sheidlower <jester at PANIX.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Antedating of "MILF"
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> 1991 is when the band was founded; Ben Zimmer talked to one of the
> members and reported on this. The OED does mention milf (the band) in
> its etymology, but notes that there's no contemporaneous evidence that
> the band's name was from the relevant acronym, so by OED standards 1995
> is the first quote (and Fred's 1993 quote still isn't an antedating of
> this).
>
> Jesse Sheidlower
>
>
> On Sun, Feb 24, 2013 at 11:48:24AM -0500, ADSGarson O'Toole wrote:
>> Jesse Sheidlower includes a citation for the rock band "milf" in "The
>> F-word", I think. The page is blocked in Google Books but the
>> extracted text appears to give a date of 1991 for the rock band.
>>
>> The F-Word - Google Books Result
>> books.google.com/books?isbn=0199751552
>> Jesse Sheidlower - 2009 - Reference
>>
>> [Begin extracted text]
>> MILF noun [mother (or mom) I'd like to fuck] a sexually attractive
>> woman who is a mother or (generally) in early middle age. 1991 (name
>> of rock band): milf.
>> [End extracted text]
>>
>> On Sun, Feb 24, 2013 at 11:43 AM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu> wrote:
>> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
>> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> > Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
>> > Subject:      Re: Antedating of "MILF"
>> > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> >
>> > On Feb 24, 2013, at 9:25 AM, Martin Kaminer wrote:
>> >
>> >> To say nothing of the Filipino separatist group --
>> >>
>> >> _Standoff linked to MILF peace deal?_
>> >> http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2013/02/24/standoff-linked-to-milf-peace-deal/
>> >>
>> >> _Gov't, MILF enforce pact on reduction of explosive devices_
>> >> http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2013/02/15/909381/govt-milf-enforce-pact-reduction-explosive-devices
>> >>
>> >> etc.
>> >>
>> >> source of endless mirth.
>> >
>> > I'll say.  Also possible lawsuits, seeing as how "our" MILF were already established back in the 20th century while these upstart Moro Islamic Liberation Front folks are apparently MILFs-come-lately.  A case for the International Court of Justice!
>> >
>> > LH
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> On Sun, Feb 24, 2013 at 3:43 PM, Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at gmail.com> wrote:
>> >>>
>> >>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
>> >>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> >>> Poster:       Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at GMAIL.COM>
>> >>> Subject:      Re: Antedating of "MILF"
>> >>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> >>>
>> >>> Does the name of "endearing central state rockers" really count?
>> >>>
>> >>> On Sunday, February 24, 2013, Shapiro, Fred wrote:
>> >>>
>> >>>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> >>>> -----------------------
>> >>>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU<javascript:;>
>> >>>>>
>> >>>> Poster:       "Shapiro, Fred" <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU <javascript:;>>
>> >>>> Subject:      Antedating of "MILF"
>> >>>>
>> >>>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> >>>>
>> >>>> MILF (OED 1995)
>> >>>>
>> >>>> 1993 _Buffalo News_ 8 Apr. (Nexis)  A Goo Goo Dolls tribute lp is in the
>> >>>> wo=
>> >>>> rks, featuring messy but endearing center-state rockers MILF doing the Goo
>> >>>> =
>> >>>> classic "Up Yours."
>> >>>>
>> >>>> Fred Shapiro
>> >>>>
>> >>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> >>>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>> >>>>
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>> --
>> >>> DanG
>> >>>
>> >>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> >>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.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
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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



More information about the Ads-l mailing list