Balderdash and Piffle

Appeal list

Did you wear a shell-suit before 1989 or call someone a wazzock before 1984? Do you know anyone who is daft as a brush, and why you might describe them this way? 250 years after Dr Johnson wrote his celebrated dictionary with the aid of just six helpers, the OED and the BBC teamed up to appeal to the nation to help solve some of the most intriguing recent word mysteries in the language.

The OED seeks to find the earliest verifiable usage of every single word in the English language—currently 600,000 in the OED and counting—and of every separate meaning of every word. Quite a task! The words on the OED's Balderdash & Piffle Wordhunt appeal list have dates indicating the earliest evidence the dictionary had at the time for that word or phrase. Many were revised as a result of the appeal—a great success!

* means origin unknown or origin uncertain

• bananas (1968-70)*
• Bloody Mary (1956)*
• bonkers (1957)*
• bung (1958)*
• daft/mad as a brush (1945)
• dog and bone (1961)
• dogging
• dog's bollocks (1989)
• domestic (1963)
• duh brain
• flip-flop (1970)
• glamour model (1981)
• Glasgow kiss (1987)
• Gordon Bennett
• hoodie (1990)
• identity theft (1991)
• Jack the Lad (1981)*
• kinky (1959)
• loo (1940)*
• marital aid (1976)
• mucky pup (1984)
• one sandwich short (1993)
• plonker (1966)
• pole dance (1992)
• prat (1968)*
• regime change (1990)
• round robin
• shaggy dog story (1946)*
• shell-suit (1989)
• sick puppy
• spiv (1934)*
• stiletto (1959)
• take the mickey (1948)*
• tosser (1977)
• trainer (1978)
• twoc (1990)
• wally (1969)*
• wazzock (1984)*
• whoopsie (1973)
• wolf-whistle (1952)

One sandwich short of a picnic

bananas

WANTED: Verifiable evidence before 1968; information on the origins on the phrase

Did you go bananas before 1968? It's one of many fruity terms associated with mental incapacity, like fruitcake and crazy as a coconut. But what's so mad about a bunch of bananas? The OED would like you to set their minds at rest by providing them with earlier datable evidence.

bonkers

WANTED: Verifiable evidence before 1957; information on the origins of the word

Were people bonkers before 1957? Or were they just nuts, loopy, or crackers? The OED has evidence from 1948 of the word being used in Navy slang to mean drunk or light-headed, so there seems to be a connection. But did the word change tack before 1957?

Earlier evidence found through the Wordhunt - can you do better?

daft (or mad) as a brush

WANTED: Verifiable evidence before 1945; information on the origins of the phrase

Why are you daft as a brush, rather than daft as a mop or a feather duster? Was it a phrase invented by chimney sweeps? Or was it coined by huntsmen in reference to the tail of a fox, an animal traditionally thought to be cunning rather than crazy. Any evidence from before 1945 might help to ease the OED's brain ache.

Earlier evidence found through the Wordhunt - can you do better?

duh brain

WANTED: Verifiable evidence before 1997

Does duh brain belong in the dictionary? If you can provide enough compelling evidence for this playground taunt the OED might be convinced to create a new entry. The oldest duh brain they've found so far is from 1997, lurking within the pages of J-17 magazine. Do your school books, letters, or diaries prove it was around before that?

New entry written after the Wordhunt - can you do better?

one sandwich short of a picnic

WANTED: Verifiable evidence before 1993

This is just one variant of a mass of similar constructions to suggest that a person is slightly crazy. Many of the earlier examples are from Australia, refer to building materials, and date back as far as 1939. But can you find evidence of one sandwich short of a picnic from before 1993? Or do you have evidence of other creative uses of the phrase?

Earlier evidence found through the Wordhunt - can you do better?

Man's best friend

dog and bone

WANTED: Verifiable evidence before 1961

The telephone as we know it came into being in 1876, but the earliest evidence of its rhyming slang moniker is from 1961, would you adam and eve it? Cockneys, scratch your loaves and think, do you have earlier evidence of this expression? Go and have a butcher's!

dog's bollocks

WANTED: Verifiable evidence before 1989

According to the OED, the cat's whiskers and the bee's knees have both referred to 'the acme of excellence' since 1923, but the rather coarser dog's bollocks doesn't appear until 1989, courtesy of Viz magazine. Is this right, or can you dig up earlier evidence?

Earlier evidence and a new sense for bollock found through the Wordhunt - can you do better?

mucky pup

WANTED: Verifiable evidence before 1984

Were you branded a mucky pup as a habitually messy child (or adult) before 1984? If you can sniff out earlier evidence you'll make the OED happier than a dog with two tails.

Earlier evidence found through the Wordhunt - can you do better?

shaggy dog story

WANTED: Verifiable evidence before 1946; information on the origins of the phrase?

Were yarn spinners telling shaggy dog stories before 1946? And did the first one actually involve a dog that was shaggy? There are many theories about early canine tales, but the crucial evidence has yet to be unearthed. Can you help to sniff it out? And do get straight to the point. No time-wasters please!

Earlier evidence found through the Wordhunt - can you do better?

sick puppy

WANTED: Verifiable evidence before 1985

This is not literally a young dog in need of veterinary attention, but the slang term for an individual who acts a little strangely.

The OED are preparing a draft entry for this term, and have evidence dating from 1985. Can you trump that?

New entry written after the Wordhunt - can you do better?

Euphemisms: the lace curtain of language

domestic

WANTED: Verifiable evidence before 1963

Fans of Z Cars might be able to help the OED with the term 'a domestic' in the specific sense of a household argument. The current first quotation is from a magazine article translating British slang terms from the series for bemused Australian viewers, so the word must have been in use, probably in the series itself, before then. But did the script writers invent it or did they get it from the police themselves? Time for some detective work...

Earlier evidence found through the Wordhunt - can you do better?

glamour model

WANTED: Verifiable evidence before 1981

Perhaps this term was born when Britain's nude and topless models decided that they needed a more decorous job title to grace their CVs. Or perhaps it was invented by tabloid subeditors to add an air of sophistication to their third-page content. But did the euphemistic expression burst on to the scene before 1981?

Earlier evidence found through the Wordhunt - can you do better?

loo

WANTED: Verifiable evidence before 1940; information on the origins of the word

A small word for the small room, but one that has caused a big stink among etymologists. With no firm evidence to support any one theory the loo debate looks set to continue. Did James Joyce invent the term in a pun about Waterloo? Is it from the French 'lieu' or 'l'eau', or even 'bordalou', a portable commode fashionable with ladies in 18th century France? With the first evidence of the word appearing in 1940, this last theory seems unlikely, unless you can find any earlier evidence.

Earlier evidence found through the Wordhunt - can you do better?

regime change

WANTED: Verifiable evidence before 1990

Did you instigate a regime change before 1990? And did you pause to note it down in your diary? The term originally referred to a simple change of government, but has more recently transformed into a euphemism for forcefully overthrowing a hostile foreign government. The first euphemistic use of regime change in the OED is from 1990 and relates to US activity in Nicaragua.

Earlier evidence found through the Wordhunt - can you do better?

whoopsie

WANTED: Verifiable evidence before 1973

Let us speak plainly here, did you do 'whoopsies' before 1973? This is one of the many euphemisms for excrement found in the OED and it first appears in a script of 'Some Mothers do ave 'Em'. But perhaps long before Frank Spencer came on to the scene, whoopsie was the euphemism of choice in your household.

Dodgy dealings

bung

WANTED: Verifiable evidence before 1958; information on the origins of the word

Rooting out evidence for the word bung is almost as tricky as catching Premiership managers in the act of ripping open their well-stuffed brown paper envelopes. The OED's first mention of bung meaning bribe is from 1958. As well as an earlier reference they'd like to say more about its etymology than 'Origin Unknown'!

Glasgow kiss

WANTED: Verifiable evidence before 1987

Not a tender sign of affection, but an unequivocal expression of disagreement - a head-butt. Were you unfortunate enough to receive one of these before 1987? And did you, despite the circumstances, have the presence of mind to note the phrase down alongside the date? Interestingly, the Liverpool kiss currently predates the Glasgow kiss in theOED by 43 years! Perhaps there are other variations that the OED should know about? No, don't tell us it's called a Zidane...

Earlier evidence found through the Wordhunt - can you do better?

identity theft

WANTED: Verifiable evidence before 1991

A relatively new phrase for a relatively new crime, but is it older than we think? Were people fraudulently acquiring personal information before 1991? If so was this called identity theft in print?

Earlier evidence found through the Wordhunt - can you do better?

Jack the Lad

WANTED: Verifiable evidence before 1981

Calling all seadogs! Did you know a 'Jack the Lad' before 1981 and can you prove it? We know Jack the lad today as a brash young man or a bit of a chancer. But is the phrase really connected to the 1840 sea shanty Jack's the lad, featuring a hard-drinking and fun-loving sailor. If so, why can't the OED find any evidence of the phrase for over 150 years?

Earlier evidence found through the Wordhunt - can you do better?

spiv

WANTED: Verifiable evidence before 1934; information on the origins of the word

Why is a spiv a spiv? Were there spivs before 1934? It's a very specific term, referring to a smartly dressed hustler, someone who lives by his wits and engages in petty blackmarket dealings. There is a theory that the spiv is named after his spiffy dress sense, but there is has been no evidence to prove this so far.

Earlier evidence found through the Wordhunt - can you do better?

twoc

WANTED: Verifiable evidence before 1990

Twoc, an acronym for 'take without consent', usually in reference to car theft or joy-riding, is recorded in the OED as both a noun and a verb from the early 90s. The evidence comes from newspaper articles, but the OED thinks that twoc has its origins in police slang. So surely earlier examples can be brought to book? Definitely one for the word detectives.

Earlier evidence found through the Wordhunt - can you do better?

X rated

dogging

WANTED: Verifiable evidence before 1993

The OED is preparing a new entry to cover this curious cultural phenomenon and recent inventive use of the ancient verb to dog. Meaning 'the practice of watching people engage in sexual acts in a public space, typically a car park', there is evidence of the term from 1993. Can you top that?

The origins of the phrase are uncertain. Could there be a link with the verb to dog, to pursue closely, from the implication that those watching dog the participants' every move? Or could it be that those taking part would use walking the dog as an excuse for their sojourns.

New entries for dogging and dogger written after the Wordhunt - can you do better?

kinky

WANTED: Verifiable evidence before 1959

According to the OED, people have been kinky since 1889. But if you were kinky before 1959 you weren't sexually adventurous, just a bit eccentric. Or were you? The earliest evidence in the OED for this sense is from Colin MacInnes's book Absolute Beginners, but if you dabbled in a little slap and tickle before 1959 and are prepared to admit to it, you might be able to prove that the word is older.

marital aid

WANTED: Verifiable evidence before 1976

Is Burnham-on-Sea Britain's naughtiest town? We can thank their local Gazette for the first citation of marital aid, a rather prim and proper sounding euphemism for sex toys, in 1976. Were adverts for these illicit items lurking in the back pages of your local paper long before that? Despite its nuptial connotations it seems unlikely that the word would have appeared on wedding lists of that era...

Earlier evidence found through the Wordhunt - can you do better?

pole dance

WANTED: Verifiable evidence before 1992

Did you pole dance before 1992? Of course, people have danced around poles for centuries, but the modern sense of the word has little in common with the innocent days of the maypole. Defined in the OED as 'an erotic dance or striptease performed while moving around a specially constructed pole', the first evidence for this sense is from 1992. Can you do better?

Earlier evidence found through the Wordhunt - can you do better?

wolf-whistle

WANTED: Verifiable evidence before 1952; information on the word’s origin

Did this distinctive sign of approval echo around the nation's building sites before 1952? When did it become known as a wolf-whistle? The word wolf has been used to describe a sexually aggressive male since Thackeray's Vanity Fair in 1847, so earlier evidence of the wolf-whistle must be out there.

Earlier evidence found through the Wordhunt - can you do better?

Put downs and insults

plonker

WANTED: Verifiable evidence before 1966

Like many good insults plonker sounds amusing, thanks to its relationship with the verb to plonk. Arguably the word enjoyed its heyday in the 80s as Del Boy's favourite put down to Rodney. But the OED has an example of plonker as an insult from 1966 and an even earlier one where it means 'a penis'.

Senses revised as a result of the Wordhunt - can you do better?

prat

WANTED: Verifiable evidence before 1968; information on the origins of the word

Look up prat in the OED and you're taken right back to 1000 AD. But the original sense of prat was as a trick or a prank. Later prat came to mean buttock or even hip pocket. So when and why did a prat become a fool or jerk? The earliest reference the OED currently have is from 1968, in a book by Melvyn Bragg. Do we really have Melvyn to thank for all the prats around us today?

Earlier evidence found through the Wordhunt - can you do better?

tosser

WANTED: Verifiable evidence before 1977

We're not interested in the large Scotsman holding a caber - literally one who tosses. Instead we're after the term of contempt which John Prescott recently slung across the House of Commons, and which is first cited in the OED from 1977. The associated verb to toss off, in the sense of masturbation, dates from a century earlier, so surely we can find the OED some earlier tossers?

wally

WANTED: Verifiable evidence before 1969; information on the origins of the word

This mild term of abuse is said by some to derive from the name Walter. But who was Walter and just what did he do to incite such scorn? A wally is also said to be an unfashionable person. But was the term in vogue before 1969? Get wally back a long way and it's the dictionary folks that will look like wallies.

wazzock

WANTED: Verifiable evidence before 1984, information on the origins of the word

Were you the first wazzock? The OED is convinced that the wazzock originated in the North of England before spreading further afield as a popular affectionate insult. Can you tell the OED anything new about the origins of the wazzock?

Earlier evidence found through the Wordhunt - can you do better?

Who were they?

Bloody Mary

WANTED: Verifiable evidence before 1956; information about its origins

Legend has it that this gruesomely named cocktail was first served up in Harry's Bar in Paris in the early 1920s, but the OED's first reference comes from Punch in 1956. Can you beat that? This was all long after the tumultuous reign of 'Bloody' Queen Mary I. So was she really the inspiration for the drink? Or should the dictionary be hailing a different Mary?

Earlier evidence found through the Wordhunt - can you do better?

Gordon Bennett

WANTED: Verifiable evidence before 1967; information on the origins of the phrase

Gordon Bennett was a famous media magnate, sportsman, and playboy in the early 1900s. But the earliest evidence for the expression is as late as 1967 (from a script for 'Till Death do us Part'). So is the OED immortalizing the right Gordon Bennett? Earlier evidence may help solve the mystery.

New entry written after the Wordhunt - can you do better?

round robin

WANTED: Verifiable evidence

The round robin has been around for centuries and has served many purposes. It's a petition, a kind of fish, and even a small pancake. But the round robin you're most likely to meet today is the kind you typically get at Christmas - the letter sent to multiple recipients reporting on family news, chocka with fascinating info on Jemina's pilates, Hugo's viola exams, and the sad demise of the hamster. For this the OED are preparing a new entry. Can you provide them with the evidence to give this phrase and cultural phenomenon its rightful place in history?

to take the mickey

WANTED: Verifiable evidence before 1948; information on the origins of the phrase

The OED isn't certain, but says this might be cockney rhyming slang honouring one Mike or Mickey Bliss. If we could find out anything at all about Mr Bliss, we might establish whether the Dictionary are on to something or themselves taking the Michael. Several different versions of the expression arose in the 1930s and 40s. To take the mike seems to have come first in 1935, followed by take the piss in 1945. Take the mickey doesn't appear until 1948, unless you know better.

Fashionistas

flip-flop

WANTED: Verifiable evidence before 1970

Ever hear the joke about the Frenchman in sandals? Phillipe Floppe? Never mind. The onomatopoeic word flip-flop referred to a somersault, an electronic circuit, and a manner of moving noisily, before it came to mean a rubber sandal beloved of antipodeans, although of course they call them jandals or (how wrong can you get?) thongs... Flip-flop is the word we are interested in here, and the OED wants your evidence of the word from before 1970.

Earlier evidence found through the Wordhunt - can you do better?

hoodie

WANTED: Verifiable evidence before 1990

Two hundred years ago, it was a kind of crow. Now a hoodie is the outer garment of choice for joggers, boxers, and young people outside shopping centres. The term is first recorded in the OED from 1990. Can you beat that?

Interestingly, just as a suit is no longer just an outfit but can mean the person inside, a hoodie has come to refer directly to the young person lurking outside the shopping centre. The OED is preparing a draft entry for this use and has found evidence from 1994. Can you do better?

Earlier evidence for the transferred sense found through the Wordhunt - can you do better?

shell-suit

WANTED: Verifiable evidence before 1989

Does the OED have its finger on the fashion pulse with this one? Was 1989 the birth of this lightweight polyester leisure-wear, or were you wearing one that went by that name long before that?

Earlier evidence found through the Wordhunt - can you do better?

stiletto

WANTED: Verifiable evidence before 1959

Technically speaking, this is an abbreviation of stiletto heel, and it is a word that first teetered into the OED in a New Statesman article from 1959. Surely earlier evidence must exist in a trendier publication, perhaps a fashion mag or catalogue...? That would be one small, stilettoed step for our Wordhunt, one giant leap for the OED.

Earlier evidence found through the Wordhunt - can you do better?

trainer

WANTED: Verifiable evidence before 1978

Not the person who stands by the boxing ring with a towel, but the soft training shoe. Before 1978 you might have called them sneakers, pumps, plimsolls, or tennis shoes, but now trainer would seem to be the definitive word in sporting footwear. Are you willing to do some legwork for the OED to track down an earlier citation?

Earlier evidence found through the Wordhunt - can you do better?

Acknowledgments

The OED would like to thank everyone who joined the second Wordhunt. Thanks to your efforts we have now updated even more OED entries! Of the thousands of you who contacted us, we would particularly like to thank and congratulate the following people who managed to track down that all-important datable evidence: