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

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

I also searched for "bae bae" because a simple truncation mechanism
could produce "bae". But I only found three pertinent matches in the
pertinent period.

Date: December 28, 1972
Newspaper: The Bangor Daily News
Newspaper Location: Bangor, Maine
Article: First Admire Tony Randall's Tie To See What's Under His Cost
Quote Page 7, Column 6
Database: Newspapers.com
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-bangor-daily-news/189007618/

[Begin excerpt]
As for rack-and-roll, he despises it, and is happy to say so, "It's
for children, It's not for grown-ups. It has one beat and four chords.
It's for illiterate people who have no ear. It rhymes words like baby
and crazy. Bae-bae and cra-zae!"
[End excerpt]

Date: February 13, 1976
Newspaper: St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Newspaper Location: St. Louis, Missouri
Article: Happy Valentine's Day
Quote Page 11D, Column 6
Database: Newspapers.com
https://www.newspapers.com/article/st-louis-post-dispatch-baebae/189006943/

[Begin excerpt]
TO GUS FROM BAE BAE
WITH LOVE
[End excerpt]

Date: June 13, 1976
Newspaper: The Times
Newspaper Location: Trenton, New Jersey
Article: Requiem for a childless 'Mother' and her four little ones
(Continuation title: A sad requiem for five lost)
Author: David Bittan (Staff Writer)
Start B1, Quote Page B2, Column 1 and 2
Database: Newspapers.com
https://www.newspapers.com/image/1192959903/?match=1&terms=%22BAE%20Bae%22

[Begin excerpt]
Kevin, 10, known as "My Man," and their sister, Thelma, 9, called "Bae
Bae," were members of the church's young peoples' singing group, the
Zionettes, and attended Grant School.
[End excerpt]

Garson

On Thu, Jan 15, 2026 at 4:32 PM ADSGarson O'Toole
<adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> 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