awesome sauce!

[Christopher Philippo]

On May 11, 2014, at 11:07 AM, Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
>> you guys are awesomesauce.
>> carmelita cortez. "Re: Shadowy men in a taco bell ad!"
>> alt.tv.kids-in-hall September 22, 2001 4:12:54 PM UTC-4
>> https://groups.google.com/forum/#!original/alt.tv.kids-in-hall/iJ0KiwzBtpU/4FbTKzjLkdQJ
>
> This example is the first cite given in the Summer 2011 "Among the New
> Words" (linked upthread): http://bit.ly/ATNW86-2

Of course the professionals found that cite first!  It’s at http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/awesome_sauce too.  My weaksauce (which I see in that article has older cites than awesomesauce - one of which suggested “awesome” had gone out of style).  Incidentally, searching by date in Google Groups used to be easy - what happened?

Barry Popik related speculation by wiktionary and urbandictionary users that “awesome sauce” came from the character Strong Bad in the Flash series Homestar Runner.  Possible, though the oldest use of “awesome sauce” in HR http://www.hrwiki.org/wiki/Awesome given on the HR Wiki is from 2003:

"STRONG BAD: {to The Cheat} Well, aren't you gonna go get your 409 or Awesome Sauce or whatever you're gonna clean this up with?" Strong Bad Email #75. June 2, 2003. http://www.hrwiki.org/wiki/funny

That’s not to say there might not have been an earlier use by SB, but fannish wikis might tend to be right about such trivia.  SB could perhaps have helped popularize it to some extent.

San souci,

CKP

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