[Ads-l] Slang: chillax

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Many thanks for tracking down the scene, Ben. I think your soundtrack analysis
 makes sense. Garson

On Wed, Mar 22, 2017 at 6:34 PM, Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at gmail.com> wrote:
> I managed to find the movie online and watched the scene in question. I
> believe Elvis is saying "Just relax about ten minutes," though he slurs the
> words a bit. Judge for yourself -- here's an audio clip:
>
> http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/~bgzimmer/justrelax.mp3
>
>
> On Wed, Mar 22, 2017 at 5:25 PM, ADSGarson O'Toole <
> adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> A correspondent told me about a possible early instance of the term
>> "chillax".
>>
>> [Begin excerpt]
>> I stumbled across something interesting last night while watching an
>> Elvis Presley movie called "Live a Little, Love a Little" from 1968.
>> At 49:41 minutes into the movie, Elvis (playing a photographer) says
>> the following to a model "Chillax about ten minutes."
>> [End excerpt]
>>
>> The correspondent and her friend both believe that Elvis was saying
>> "chillax". I have not watched the movie scene, so I cannot offer
>> testimony.
>>
>> Partridge has a 1993 citation, but there is a suspiciously long gap
>> between 1968 and 1993.
>>
>> The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English (2015)
>> Edited by Tom Dalzell and Terry Victor
>>
>> [Begin excerpt]
>> chillax verb
>> to calm down and relax US
>> -- Judi Sanders, Faced and Faded, Hanging to Hurl, p. 8, 1993
>> [End excerpt]
>>
>> Green's Dictionary of Slang has the following entry (free version).
>> https://greensdictofslang.com/entry/ddjo4pi
>>
>> [Begin excerpt]
>> chillax v.
>> [chill (out) v. (2) + SE relax]
>> [2000s] (orig. US campus) to wind down and relax.
>> [End excerpt]
>>
>>
>>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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