Wordhunt
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Balderdash and Piffle is an initiative launched in 2005 by Oxford University Press and the BBC, which aims to discover the true origins of various words listed in the Oxford English Dictionary as "origin unknown", or which lack evidence regarding their earliest use. A list of fifty words and phrases was issued in June 2005. The results of the survey are to be featured in a BBC TV series, Balderdash and Piffle, and a book of the same title, in 2006.
[edit] List of words, with dates of earliest known citations
- back to square one (1960)
- balti (1984)
- Beeb (1967)
- boffin (1941)
- bog-standard (1983)
- bomber jacket (1973)
- bonk (sexual intercourse) (1975)
- bouncy castle (1986)
- chattering classes (1985)
- codswallop (1963, revised to 1959)
- Crimble (1963)
- cyberspace (1982)
- cyborg (1960)
- ditsy (1978)
- dosh (1953)
- full monty (1985, revised to 1982)
- gas mark (1963)
- gay (homosexual sense) (1935)
- handbags at dawn (1987)
- her indoors (1979)
- jaffa (cricketing term) (1973)
- Mackem (1991, revised to 1980)
- made-up (1980)
- minger (1995)
- minted (1995)
- moony, moonie (1990)
- mullered (1993)
- mullet (hairstyle) (1994)
- mushy peas (1975)
- naff (1966)
- nerd (1951)
- nip and tuck (1980)
- nit nurse (1985, revised to 1942)
- nutmeg (football use) (1979)
- Old Bill (police) (1958)
- on the pull (1988)
- pass the parcel (1967, revised to 1954)
- pear-shaped (1983)
- phwoar (1980)
- pick 'n' mix (1959)
- ploughman's lunch (1970, revised to 1960)
- pop one's clogs (1977)
- porky (1985)
- posh (1915)
- ska (1964)
- smart casual (1945)
- snazzy (1932)
- something for the weekend (1990, revised to 1972)
- throw one's toys out of the pram (or cot) (1989)
- tikka masala (1975)
