Random Note for WOTY 2014: neknominate, -ion, -ed, -ing

[Laurence Horn]

On Feb 19, 2014, at 10:29 AM, Baker, John wrote:

> The Know Your Meme page linked by Larry indicates that "neknominate" is a contraction of "neck and nominate," and Wikipedia similarly indicates that "neck and nominate" is an alternative term.

Right, I got as far as "nek-" < "neck", but then ran into a brick (or brik) wall.  Back when I was a lad, necking was a rather different activity, one that tended to be carried out in smaller groups and that was (usually) not as dangerous, setting aside the gateway effect.  Kids these days...

LH

> "Nominate" is straightforward enough:  The drinker nominates the next person who is supposed to drink a pint in one gulp.  "Neck," in this sense, was unfamiliar to me, but some of the definitions on Urban Dictionary indicate that "neck" can mean to drink too much, to drink quickly, or to down a drink in one gulp.  I don't know if this is in HDAS; I can't check right now, and the uses seem to be British anyway.
>
>
> John Baker
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of Laurence Horn
> Sent: Wednesday, February 19, 2014 10:13 AM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: Random Note for WOTY 2014: neknominate, -ion, -ed, -ing
>
> On Feb 19, 2014, at 7:21 AM, Arnold Zwicky wrote:
>
>> On Feb 19, 2014, at 3:51 AM, David Barnhart <dbarnhart at HIGHLANDS.COM> wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> Neknominate: 'Lethal' drinking game sweeps social media
>>>
>>> By Peter Wilkinson and Isa Soares, CNN
>>>
>>> updated 10:47 AM EST, Tue February 18, 2014
>>
>> there's a Wikipedia page:
>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neknominate
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> And various other news reports, e.g. http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/neknominate.  But none I've seen so far provide an etymology.
>
> LH
>
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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