[Ads-l] "receipts" = "proof"

[Ben Zimmer]

"Receipts" was the runner-up (behind "woke") in the Slang Word of the Year
category in the 2016 ADS WOTY voting.

https://www.americandialect.org/wp-content/uploads/2016-Word-of-the-Year-PRESS-RELEASE.pdf

You can see our "Among the New Words" treatment of "receipts" in the May
2017 issue of American Speech (pp. 214-5).

https://bit.ly/ATNW92-2


On Mon, Oct 30, 2017 at 11:19 PM, Neal Whitman <nwhitman at ameritech.net>
wrote:

> I recently became aware of the word "receipts" to mean "proof", not
> necessarily proof involving receipts. My son was imagining proving to
> someone that his story about a peer of his was true by showing them some
> screen caps of text exchanges. He said, "I'd be like, 'Take a look at these
> receipts!'" I didn't know that the apps he used for communicating showed
> read-receipts, and even if they did, why would someone need proof that this
> person read HIS messages instead of proof of the messages THEY sent to HIM?
> He explained this more general meaning.
>
> A couple of days ago, I saw this thread of tweets, in which "receipts" is
> used this way, and also is called out: https://twitter.com/bluelightt
> v/status/924091177724387329
>
> The top definition on Urban Dictionary is from 2016, and matches my son's
> usage precisely:
> receipts <https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=receipts>
> Evidence or proof <https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=proof>.
> Often in the form <https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=form>
> of screenshots or saved <https://www.urbandictionary.c
> om/define.php?term=saved> snaps.
> Emma: Bitch where the fuck did she say she was going <
> https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=going>
> Sophie <https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Sophie>: Pull up <
> https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Pull%20up> them receipts
> by PhoodoVoodoVaVaVoom <https://www.urbandictionary.c
> om/author.php?author=PhoodoVoodoVaVaVoom> November 21, 2016
>
> The second-most popular is the earliest UD definition, which despite being
> incredibly ineptly written, offers a possible origin story to follow up:
> receipts <https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=receipts>
> 1. To disbelive something <https://www.urbandictionary.c
> om/define.php?term=something> so much that some kind of hard evidence is
> required.
> 2. To be so frustrated by a social situation that you wish there was some
> kind of red tape to guide it with.
> Origin- Whitney <https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Whitney>
> Houston's Diane Sawyer interview, where Whitney requests Diane provide
> reciepts for her allegation of over $100 <https://www.urbandictionary.c
> om/define.php?term=100>,000 Crack Cocaine purchases.
> 1a. "Miss Whitney does not do crack <https://www.urbandictionary.c
> om/define.php?term=crack>, o.k.! Crack <https://www.urbandictionary.c
> om/define.php?term=Crack> is for poor people! I want you to show me the
> receipts <https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=receipts>
> Diane, Show Me The Receipts <https://www.urbandictionary.c
> om/define.php?term=Receipts>!"
> 1b. Carl,"I met Johnny Depp last night at the Green Mill and we sat up
> drinking and screwing hookers till dawn!"
> Tad, "Receipts Carl, receipts."
> 2. Wancy, "They're waiting for us down at Friends <
> https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Friends>, we've got to
> leave now. Guy's, Guy's, is anyone listening to me? We have to go or
> they'll all be drunk as shit when we get there... (muttering dejectedly)
> receipts..."
> by Krazy-K <https://www.urbandictionary.com/author.php?author=Krazy-K>
> September 07, 2005
>
> The fourth most-popular one seems to be a reaction against this extended
> use of "receipts":
> receipt <https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=receipt>
> A piece <https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=A%20piece> of
> paper <https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=paper> you get to
> prove your purchase <https://www.urbandictionary.c
> om/define.php?term=purchase>.
> i bought <https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=bought> shoes <
> https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=shoes> and got <
> https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=got> a receipt from the
> cashier.
> #buy <https://www.urbandictionary.com/tags.php?tag=buy>#recipt <
> https://www.urbandictionary.com/tags.php?tag=recipt>#purchase <
> https://www.urbandictionary.com/tags.php?tag=purchase>#sell <
> https://www.urbandictionary.com/tags.php?tag=sell>#aquire <
> https://www.urbandictionary.com/tags.php?tag=aquire>
> by Meni <https://www.urbandictionary.com/author.php?author=Meni> October
> 23, 2006
>
> The Diane Sawyer interview seems to have happened in 2002. Here's a
> YouTube clip uploaded in 2009:
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdyaLWMt6qA
>
> Houston actually does say, "I want to see the receipts from whoever I
> bought the drugs from." On the one hand, she seems to be referring to
> actual receipts. On the other hand, I wasn't aware that drug dealers wrote
> receipts.
>
> You can also find animated GIFs of this clip.
>
>
> Neal
>
>
>

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