[Ads-l] [EXTERNAL] Re: Antedating of "Bae"

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Following the lead of Joanne and Fred I found BAE used in a
Valentine's Day message in 1976. Of course, BAE might be a person's
name. The lengthy excerpt is to show the context which contains
messages for "ANGEL BABY and "BABY".

Date: February 14, 1976
Newspaper: The Sentinel
Newspaper Location: Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Article: Valentine Love Line
Quote Page 11, Column 4
Database: Newspapers.com
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-sentinel-bae/189004039/

[Begin excerpt]
ANGEL BABY - I Love you with all my my Heatt. You Alone have given me
more happiness than I have every known. Every Day, Sweetheart I Love
You more and more. Honey.
...

BABY, it has been a pretty rocky road. But there are only pebbles
left. Happy Valentines Day. Love, Dennis.

BAE, To touch is to feel, To have is to want. To discover is to
search. I'm glad I found ya. I love you. Tim.

BARBARA - For ever I am yours beyond the end of time. Say you have no
other love and be My Valentine. Love, Bobby.
[End excerpt]

Garson

On Thu, Jan 15, 2026 at 11:43 AM Joanne Despres
<000021666d19cc5e-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:
>
> Here you go, Jesse:
>
> MY BAE,
>
> STARTING OUT OUR 7TH YEAR AND I.T.A.L.Y. STILL AND ALWAYS!
>
>
>
> LOVE, SUNSHINE
>
>
>
> p. 31
>
> Post-Dispatch (St. Louis, MO)
>
> February 14, 1983
>
> [Newspapers.com]
>
>
> On Wed, Jan 14, 2026 at 5:38 PM Jesse Sheidlower <jester at panix.com> wrote:
>
> > I note that Merriam Webster gives a date of 1983 for this entry; would
> > love to know where this comes from!
> >
> > Jesse Sheidlower
> >
> > On Wed, Jan 14, 2026 at 10:09:42PM +0000, Shapiro, Fred wrote:
> > > bae (OED 2006)
> > >
> > > "Bae" appears in the lyrics of the 2004 song "Leave (Get Out)."  Still
> > earlier, on March 14th, 2003, Urban Dictionary user Trong submitted an
> > entry for “bae,” defining it as a “bastardization of the term ‘babe’.”
> > >
> > > Fred Shapiro
> > >
> > > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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