[Ads-l] Query on "low(-)key"

[Ben Zimmer]

"Lowkey" was a nominee in the 2015 ADS WOTY voting, appearing in the Most
Creative category. Both "lowkey" and "highkey" got the "Among the New
Words" treatment in Feb. 2016 (AmSp 91.1) along with other nominees.

http://bit.ly/ATNW91-1

--bgz

On Wed, Sep 10, 2025 at 11:22 AM Laurence Horn <
00001c05436ff7cf-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:

> This is for a student working on a semantic/pragmatic analysis of
> adverbial “low(-)key”, both in its use as a downtoning scalar modifier
> (“I’m low-key happy about it”= ‘kind of/somewhat happy’, often with a
> suggestion of reluctance to admit it) and as a downtoning marker indicating
> weakened speaker commitment “Lowkey, can we eat outside?” = ‘I’m
> tentatively suggesting that we eat outside’).  The distinction is similar
> to one for other adverbs like “totally” that have been discussed in the
> literature.
>
> What my student and I are wondering is whether there’s any work out there
> we should know about, and how and when this originated (as a shift from the
> adjectival “low(-)key”).  Was there a mention in Among the New Words I
> should know about?  A WOTY nomination from years past?
>
> (The OED just has the adjectival source, “low-key” glossed as ‘modest’,
> but nothing on the adverb in either use. There’s a lot more on TikTok!)
>
> Thanks,
> LH
>

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