meh, adj.

Laurence Horn laurence.horn at YALE.EDU
Fri Jun 13 00:44:47 UTC 2014


On Jun 12, 2014, at 8:17 PM, Ben Zimmer wrote:

> On Thu, Jun 12, 2014 at 2:07 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>>
>> http://cnn.org/OPINION/
>>
>> Why We're Living in a Meh Economy
>
> For more on adjectival "meh", see my 2/26/12 Boston Globe column:
>
> http://www.bostonglobe.com/ideas/2012/02/26/meh-generation/lmLccPoBMpwvPycxr2vqhJ/story.html
>
> More on the history of "meh" (including its use as either an
> interjection or adjective in Yiddish) in this followup:
>
> http://www.slate.com/blogs/lexicon_valley/2013/09/06/meh_etymology_tracing_the_yiddish_word_from_leo_rosten_to_auden_to_the_simpsons.html
>
> --bgz
>
Possibly worth noting that every week in its "one-page magazine", the Sunday New York Times Magazine runs an ongoing feature, "the meh list" containing 6 to 8 items, give or take, that qualify as "Not Hot, Not Not, Just Meh", e.g.

1.  Wedding-registry gifts
2.  Live albums
3.  Signaling. Emphasis. Like. This.
4.  “Have you seen the British version?”
5.  Interactive maps
6.  Lime-flavored seltzer

More impressive with the added graphics.


LH

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