etymology of "wannabe"

[Daniel Rosenblatt]

To all:

I remember hearing "wannabe" used among punk rockers in San Francisco in
the early & mid eighties (I recall in particular hearing women with a
certain look described as "Madonna wannabees"--a happy bit of internal
rhyming).

But, to take this discussion beyond the issue of "where did you first hear
it," it seems to me (purely as a matter of speculation) perfectly plausible
to think that the word could have been coined multiple times, given the
right conditions--which might include the already available "wanna" as an
alternate pronunciation of "want-to"; a general acceptance of
nominalization; and American's penchant for assuming new identities at the
drop (or putting-on) of a hat.

Does anyone else have any thoughts on whether new words always spread by
diffusion, or whether independent invention is sometime possible?  Is there
perhaps even some evidence out there pertaining to a similar coinage?

Danny

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Daniel Rosenblatt
danr at uchicago.edu
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Wesleyan University
Center for the Humanities
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