[Ads-l] Antedating of "Breakdancing"

[Shapiro, Fred]

The OED also lacks any citations for "breakdance" as a non-participial verb.

Fred Shapiro


________________________________
From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at GMAIL.COM>
Sent: Monday, February 19, 2024 2:33 AM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Subject: Re: Antedating of "Breakdancing"

Oddly, the OED still lacks the earlier form "breakdance" (n.), as in this
cite that appears on the Wikipedia page for "breakdancing":

New York Daily News, Nov 12, 1980, p. M12, col. 1
Bill Adler, "Kurtis Blow: rapped up in success"
But it was in his secret identity as a B-boy (B for Beat) during
after-school hours that Kurtis [Blow] really shined. "I was the best dancer
at the school," he claimed. "When I was 15 I used to go down to Nell
Gwinn's and do that frantic Breakdance -- the fancy, fancy footwork to the
funky, funky music -- and I would have the crowd in the palm of my hand."

I see Bonnie just clipped this!
https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.newspapers.com%2Farticle%2Fdaily-news-breakdance-in-profile-of-k%2F141486077%2F&data=05%7C02%7Cfred.shapiro%40YALE.EDU%7Cad72d4027bb7498c582b08dc311d2a97%7Cdd8cbebb21394df8b4114e3e87abeb5c%7C0%7C0%7C638439248571420797%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=LyuBNJHHpT0mA3Gv54zQA2Kg8Hjyj3X2a1gcX0TM6GA%3D&reserved=0<https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news-breakdance-in-profile-of-k/141486077/>

On Sun, Feb 18, 2024 at 8:12 PM Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu> wrote:

> breakdancing (OED 1982 Sept.)
>
> 1982 _Guardian_ 26 Mar. 12/8 (Newspapers.com)  To quote J. Walter Negro
> (as indeed Robert Elms does on his agreeably enthusiastic sleeve-notes),
> "graffiti art, break dancing, and rap music are the three art forms of the
> new urban tribes."
>
> NOTE: The reference is to sleeve-notes of an album titled "Genius of Rap"
> (Island).
>

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