[Ads-l] ADS-L Digest - 2 Jan 2026 to 3 Jan 2026 (#2026-4)

[Ben Yagoda]

Fred’s find led me down a bit of a “bummer” rabbit hole. My strong association with the word is New Yorker film critic Pauline Kael’s frequent use of it, which is even mentioned in her New York Times obituary. It’s sometimes said that she used the word in her 1966 McCall’s review of The Sound of Music, but I couldn’t find a transcript of the review and am suspicious of the claim in any case. Her first use I could find in The New Yorker came in 1970, in an essay about youth-oriented movies: "almost all the films released this summer have been box-office bummers.” (I’’ll add that, as far as searching goes, the magazine has changed its already bad website [or, as its style used to put it, Web site] for the worse. E.g., when you search for “bummer” or “bummers,” the 1970 quote doesn’t appear.)

Green’s Dictionary of Slang lists as the first use a quote from Hunter Thompson’s book Hell’s Angels. An Angel named Frenchy is speaking about the movie “Scorpio Rising”: "Man, it was a bummer, it wasn’t right.” There’s a bit of uncertainty about the publication date of the book. Some sources list it as 1967 but Green’s says 1966 and this is backed up by. 2/1/66 Kirkus review listing a 2/17/1966 pub date: https://tinyurl.com/22flchs4  (I think there might have been a reissue in 1967.)

Ben

Linktree of published pieces: https://linktr.ee/benyagoda

Website: benyagoda.blog

“The Lives They’re Living” podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-lives-theyre-living/id1744211348

Just out: “Gobsmacked! The British Invasion of American English” (Princeton University Press) 
https://bookshop.org/a/108735/9780691262291

Substack: “More Mush from the Wimp” https://benyagoda.substack.com/









> On Jan 4, 2026, at 12:00 AM, ADS-L automatic digest system <LISTSERV at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> wrote:
> 
> Date:    Sun, 4 Jan 2026 01:41:34 +0000
> From:    "Shapiro, Fred" <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU <mailto:fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>>
> Subject: Antedating of "Bummer" (Unpleasant Experience)
> 
> bummer (OED 1967)
> 
> 1966 Chula Vista Star-News 30 Oct. 12/4 (Californis Digital Newspaper Collection)  You trying to put me on a bummer.
> 
> 1966 College Times (California State University, Los Angeles) 16 Dec. 5/3 (JSTOR)  When they're playing games and you're not, it's kind of a bummer.
> 
> Fred Shapiro


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