Ooh-la-la, OED
Puh-leeze, Take A Chill Pill
The OED Revises and Authorizes
It’s once again time to check which new linguistic constructs have been determined OED-worthy and which words have been adjusted as new evidence about their use and provenance have been discovered.
The titular ooh-la-la, an adjective, has, for example, been redated from 1940 to 1929, according to the OED’s discussion of the September 2007 revisions of the words between proter and purposive
The spotlight of this section, however, is on Coleridge’s first use of psychosomatic:
1830 S. T. Coleridge Shorter Wks. & Fragm. (1995) II. ii. 1444 Hope and Fear.. have slipt out their collars, and no longer run in couples.. from the Kennel of my Psycho-somatic Ology.
Coleridge used the word in the sense ‘involving or depending on both the mind and the body’. The modern medical and psychological sense of the word came along rather later: in 1938, according to the previous edition of the OED, and from the pen of Samuel Beckett in Murphy. But new research now shows that Beckett cannot be credited with the introduction of this specialist use, as it appears some 24 years earlier in Boris Sidis’ Symptomatology, psychognosis, and diagnosis of psychopathic diseases, first published in Boston in 1914. Beckett is still credited by the OED with the first recorded use of several other words (athambia, nucleant, panpygoptosis, plutolater, plutomanic, prostisciutto, pugnozzle, vermigrade, wantum, wardee, and zeep). Coleridge is credited with the first use of over 600 words, often of a rather scholarly or rarefied character.
The real action, of course, is in the OED’s endorsement of new words; these are the four examples selected by Katherine Connor Martin, Acting Principal Editor of New Words, to represent all those added between June and September 2007:
attrit v.
When OED editors began researching the use of this word in military contexts with the meaning “to weaken or wear down by means of an unrelenting military offensive” (attested from the period of the First World War), they also discovered an older (and now rare) sense attested from the 18th century: “to rub, abrade, or grind”. This is just one example of how work on new words often illuminates historical usage, as well as recent developments.
chaise lounge n.
Words borrowed into English from other languages are sometimes reanalysed to fit more comfortably within the “rules” of English grammar. In the French term chaise longue (see the OED entry chaise longue n.), longue (= long) is an adjective modifying the noun chaise (= chair). Postmodifying adjectives are now rare in English, and in chaise lounge, longue has been reinterpreted as the English noun lounge, which not only resembles the French word, but also has logical associations with a piece of furniture meant for reclining.
entheogen n.
This word, used to refer to a psychoactive substance employed for spiritual purposes, has an ancient Greek etymon, but is only attested from 1977. The word was apparently coined as an alternative to the words hallucinogen n. and psychedelic n., which were strongly associated with recreational drug use. Notably, those words also have classical etymons (from Latin and Greek, respectively) but are attested only from the mid-20th century. While classical etymologies are now relatively rare in neologisms in the general vocabulary, they continue to be common in terms arising in scientific and medical circles.
puh-leeze adv. and int.
Respelling is often used to convey qualities, such as emphasis or accent, which are easily distinguished in speech but difficult to express in written form. In this case, the respelling of please to indicate an emphatic or sarcastic pronunciation has become sufficiently well established to warrant inclusion in the OED as a separate entry.
I am also taken with chill pill, which I somehow overlooked in the OED’s June 2007 release of new words:
chill pill n.
A slang term deriving from another slang term (chill v., to relax, take it easy), it is often hard to tell in early evidence if an actual pill is meant, especially as (perhaps unsurprisingly) the term seems to have arisen in the culture of narcotics. Now, more often than not, no glass of water is necessary to wash down a chill pill: it is used in imprecatory phrases simply meaning “calm down, relax”.
Yep, it’s only a matter of time until Cohenthusiast becomes official.
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… a chill pill: it is used in imprecatory phrases simply meaning “calm down, relax”. Yep, it’s only a matter of time until Cohenthusiast becomes official. …
1heckofaguy.com/2007/11/04/ooh-la-la-oed/
Well, it’s been in Answers.com every time you’ve used it - that makes it official enough for me…
Comment by ben — November 5, 2007 @ 12:37 am
Fun post dr heck
I tried Ben’s suggestion, however, and have not yet been able to confirm Cohenthusiast at Answers.com, except for the three times you used it.
When the OED gets it, be sure to let us know.
We’ll remember who gets the credit for invention of the term!
Dick
Comment by dick — November 7, 2007 @ 11:42 am