OED birthday word generator: which words originated in your birth year?
December 21, 2013 1:09 AM   Subscribe

Click on your birth year in the left-hand column to discover your OED birthday word.

My birth year word is chocoholic, n. How appropriate! What is yours?
posted by JujuB (109 comments total) 11 users marked this as a favorite
 
REBOOT



Can do, I've got lotsa boots.
posted by louche mustachio at 1:15 AM on December 21, 2013 [3 favorites]


I don't want to say this is the greatest thing ever... but it might be in the list.
posted by Mezentian at 1:26 AM on December 21, 2013


My birth year word is Artificial Intelligence... yep, it's been a lifetime noticeably lacking in REAL intelligence...
posted by oneswellfoop at 1:28 AM on December 21, 2013 [2 favorites]


"nip and tuck"

Really?

Ugh. Fucking 1977.


My husband gets "laugh-out-loud", my brother gets "gazillions", and my sister gets "air guitar".

The world is all wrong.
posted by Katemonkey at 1:30 AM on December 21, 2013 [2 favorites]


Internet.

FUCK YEAH
posted by obiwanwasabi at 1:32 AM on December 21, 2013 [9 favorites]


Mine is...air guitar.

This is such a letdown.
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 1:37 AM on December 21, 2013


"nu skool"

...

wat
posted by CrystalDave at 1:44 AM on December 21, 2013 [1 favorite]


I guess now we know when Old School kicked in.
posted by Mezentian at 1:45 AM on December 21, 2013


Megastar! Muahahaha!!
posted by dabug at 1:52 AM on December 21, 2013 [1 favorite]


Bada-bing

My mom comes up as do-gooding and my dad is can-do.

Somehow it all makes sense now.
posted by Mr. Yuck at 1:58 AM on December 21, 2013 [3 favorites]


Chocoholic as well! Huzzah!
posted by potsmokinghippieoverlord at 2:13 AM on December 21, 2013 [1 favorite]


guilt trip
posted by walrus at 2:15 AM on December 21, 2013 [1 favorite]


Chill pill
posted by Skybly at 2:17 AM on December 21, 2013 [1 favorite]


computernik.
I feel like a beatnik, though.
posted by a non e mouse at 2:26 AM on December 21, 2013


punkster

1976 represent!
posted by paleyellowwithorange at 2:27 AM on December 21, 2013 [9 favorites]


gasp, int.
Meaning: Used parenthetically to express mock horror, shock, surprise, dismay, etc
See the entry in the OED to see a quotation of its first-known usage

Fuck I'm old (gasp!).
posted by chavenet at 2:48 AM on December 21, 2013 [4 favorites]


photocall, n.
Meaning: Originally: a summoning of theatrical or other performers to be photographed, esp. during a rehearsal or before or after a performance.
posted by Thorzdad at 2:53 AM on December 21, 2013


Downloadable? I'm hip.
posted by Pope Guilty at 3:00 AM on December 21, 2013 [2 favorites]


My daughter gets 'gobsmacked' .. but what? Surely that word has been around since the year dot, no? Maybe 1985 is a typo for 1895?
posted by woodblock100 at 3:05 AM on December 21, 2013


Mine is 'mockney'. Awright then, guvnah!
posted by h00py at 3:13 AM on December 21, 2013 [4 favorites]


Mine is 'reboot' too. Seems fitting.
posted by antiwiggle at 3:20 AM on December 21, 2013 [2 favorites]


1976. "Punkster".

Punkster seems incromulent to me but apparently people use it.
posted by sebastienbailard at 3:36 AM on December 21, 2013 [3 favorites]


Punkster just seems like a word only half born.
posted by Mezentian at 3:48 AM on December 21, 2013 [1 favorite]


My daughter (2000) gets 'fauxhawk'. Hmm. Not so interesting. Her old dad (emphasis on old) gets oenophilic. Which means "Relating to or designating an oenophile or oenophiles; wine-loving." And that's just all kindsa appropriate.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 3:50 AM on December 21, 2013 [1 favorite]


1966 here: "Computernik". Yes to the meaning, no to the word!
posted by kandinski at 4:04 AM on December 21, 2013 [2 favorites]


Brainiac.

I am super curious how "digital television" could have originated in the fifties. Anyone able to shed light on what that was referring to?
posted by arha at 4:07 AM on December 21, 2013 [2 favorites]


Cyberculture. Optimistic 1963 coinage, there.
posted by Prince Lazy I at 4:10 AM on December 21, 2013 [3 favorites]


Feeling kinda old. Mine is
the, definite article
Meaning: þe
posted by pracowity at 4:19 AM on December 21, 2013 [15 favorites]


Bada-bing

Apt, as according to mother is exactly what father exclaimed on impregnation.
posted by mattoxic at 4:28 AM on December 21, 2013 [2 favorites]


Internet.

Huh.
posted by Mister Moofoo at 4:28 AM on December 21, 2013


"Ook"? "Ook"! Am very old :(
posted by fallingbadgers at 4:29 AM on December 21, 2013 [1 favorite]


Punkster sounds like a social network from 2003.
posted by Rock Steady at 4:36 AM on December 21, 2013


Bazillionaire?
posted by pemberkins at 5:00 AM on December 21, 2013


guilt trip
posted by walrus at 10:15 AM on December 21 [+] [!]

Chill pill
posted by Skybly at 10:17 AM on December 21 [+] [!]


Between us, we could probably bring balance to the force.
posted by walrus at 5:06 AM on December 21, 2013


1964: Beatlesque

Yeah, I'm old but I win this.
posted by octothorpe at 5:10 AM on December 21, 2013 [4 favorites]


For age-related reasons I won't be sharing mine, but suffice it to say it's as old-fashioned as apparently I am.

Now if you'll excuse me, it's time for my nap.
posted by tommasz at 5:14 AM on December 21, 2013


You're not as old as JujuB and me. "Chocoholic".
posted by Curious Artificer at 5:14 AM on December 21, 2013


"Bagsy"??!? Which I guess is an early form of 'dibs', but I don't think I've ever heard that word used. Has anyone heard of this term? 1979, by the way.

Of course, my husband gets 'chill pill'! (1981)
posted by sundaydriver at 5:17 AM on December 21, 2013 [3 favorites]


And I kept refreshing the page, hoping to get a cooler word. Oh well.
posted by sundaydriver at 5:20 AM on December 21, 2013


mobile phone
Now guess my age.
posted by Obscure Reference at 5:20 AM on December 21, 2013 [1 favorite]


Curious which of us posting here has the earliest one; I doubt that I can claim it - 'blast-off' from 1951 - but it does make me wonder about who the oldest MeFite must be ...
posted by woodblock100 at 5:20 AM on December 21, 2013 [1 favorite]


Bouffy?

I lose. :(
If I was born two weeks later I'd have gotten chocoholic.
posted by Grumpy old geek at 5:23 AM on December 21, 2013


Yeah I got "bagsy" too, which is weak sauce.
posted by Elementary Penguin at 5:26 AM on December 21, 2013 [2 favorites]


2037: Time travellinator
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 5:29 AM on December 21, 2013 [2 favorites]


The choices here are quixotic -- my late grandfather arrived in 1914, along with, apparently, 'ice-skate.' This baffling because this is centuries or maybe millennia after people had been ice skating. I thought perhaps it was a retronym, created to distinguish ice skating from roller skating, but then I learned this morning that roller skating had been around since the late eighteenth century. Curiouser and curiouser.

It is especially odd when 1914 saw the first usage of many words that would loom large in the ensuing century: newsreel, backpack, legalese, postmodernism, Chunnel, headphone, sociopath -- these were words all appearing in print for the first time in 1914.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 5:31 AM on December 21, 2013 [1 favorite]


Internet.

FUCK YEAH


Me too! Birth word bro fist bump!
posted by Fleebnork at 5:36 AM on December 21, 2013 [3 favorites]


Foodie.

I feel so cultured!
posted by maryr at 5:41 AM on December 21, 2013 [2 favorites]


Oenophilic.

I'll drink to that.
posted by Segundus at 5:44 AM on December 21, 2013 [3 favorites]


Nitpick?!?

Oh now c'mon, that can't be right! I'm a totally reasonable person who'd never do that, there must be some mistake, maybe they accidently got the word for the previous or following years......
posted by easily confused at 5:57 AM on December 21, 2013 [3 favorites]


Another "reboot." I'm more amazed to learn they already had the /etc directory in 1971.
posted by escabeche at 6:07 AM on December 21, 2013 [1 favorite]


"Face lift" and "nip and tuck" are separated by 38 years, "mathlete" and "brainiac" by 42, "rubbernecking" and "crowd surfing" by 85.
posted by Mapes at 6:31 AM on December 21, 2013


Mine is "chill pill."

Given the dialog of the countless awful cartoons I watched as a child, this feels appropriate somehow.

Though I had no idea those cartoons were so outdated in their sassy retorts.
posted by Narrative Priorities at 6:32 AM on December 21, 2013


1973
Your OED birthday word is:
recyclist, n.
Meaning: An advocate of the recycling of waste products; a recycler.
posted by TheophileEscargot at 6:51 AM on December 21, 2013 [1 favorite]


"Crowd-surfing."

Yay! I think. Sort of. Yeah!
posted by Eyeveex at 7:15 AM on December 21, 2013


channel surf (1986)

I don't like it.
posted by gursky at 7:15 AM on December 21, 2013 [1 favorite]


Members of the '74 Internet club should get some sort of special online privilege. I propose that we each get the power to veto a website. Don't like the site? Veto, it's gone.
posted by COBRA! at 7:18 AM on December 21, 2013 [3 favorites]


I'd just like to note that Metafilter's OED birthday word is "bling," which is why I keep trying to convince Matt to change our logo.
posted by taz at 7:22 AM on December 21, 2013 [7 favorites]


Well, it makes me feel kind of old but it's also kind of great:

Your OED birthday word is:
beat poetry
posted by maurice at 7:31 AM on December 21, 2013 [4 favorites]


I get gazillion. My sisters are downloadable (fine) and geeksville (what?). The cat who is old enough to be on the list gets parkour, which sort of seems right.
posted by jeather at 7:44 AM on December 21, 2013


Also Megastar
posted by vitabellosi at 7:57 AM on December 21, 2013


Hi, I'm Recyclist. Let me introduce you to my husband Megastar and my son Bromance.
posted by Lucinda at 8:04 AM on December 21, 2013


Guilt trip, origin: my mother.
posted by arcticseal at 8:23 AM on December 21, 2013 [1 favorite]


bagsy - we used to say this a lot when I was growing up in the Midlands.
posted by arcticseal at 8:29 AM on December 21, 2013


I am the child of a gramophile and a freebie.
posted by pracowity at 8:36 AM on December 21, 2013 [1 favorite]


Mine was "InfoScam". Not heard it before, but apparently it means to trick people into giving away useful information about themselves.

Anyway - While we're here, can we swap star signs, maybe talk about which celebrities we share birthdays with and make a funny name for ourself based on the town we were born?
posted by zoo at 8:36 AM on December 21, 2013 [2 favorites]


1986: "Channel surf" It's like the OED knew exactly what I'd be doing while visiting my family over the holidays.
posted by c'mon sea legs at 8:39 AM on December 21, 2013


Bladt-off here too. MeFi codgers represent!
posted by tspae at 8:50 AM on December 21, 2013


Yep, bagsy is definitely real UK slang circa late 70s to mid 80s. I'm sure they don't say it anymore, what with the kids communicating exclusively by snapchats of twerking, I believe.
posted by Jon Mitchell at 9:12 AM on December 21, 2013 [5 favorites]


I could have sworn 'bagsy' was much older, but maybe I'm thinking of plain 'bags'.
posted by Segundus at 9:23 AM on December 21, 2013


Ugh, how I am "shopaholic" and my husband is "air guitar"? WTF, OED, why do you not recognize that I am awesomer than he is?
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 9:46 AM on December 21, 2013


blag?
posted by benito.strauss at 9:51 AM on December 21, 2013


There was only one fucking word that originated in my birth year? Somehow I doubt that.
posted by InsertNiftyNameHere at 9:54 AM on December 21, 2013


computernik?

Fuck you, OED. Fuck. You.
posted by eriko at 9:55 AM on December 21, 2013 [2 favorites]


Incidentally, my dad (1953) is "frenemy" which I thought was a relationship term that debuted around the same time as "bromance".
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 9:59 AM on December 21, 2013


My family:

    beanie = orbit
           |
     -------------
     |           |
 beatlesque   internet

posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 10:10 AM on December 21, 2013 [4 favorites]


huh, mine was Internet - you know, the inner netting they invented to line swim trunks. Meh.
posted by bitteroldman at 10:22 AM on December 21, 2013


Shopaholic. I guess this was the era they were adding -aholic to things people like to do a lot.
posted by bleep at 10:42 AM on December 21, 2013


The choices here are quixotic -- my late grandfather arrived in 1914, along with, apparently, 'ice-skate.'

ricochet biscuit, I looked this up in the actual OED and you're right. In 1914, we get 'ice-skate' (hyphen is important!) which is the verb but the noun 'ice skate' dates back to 1786. Seems a bit of a cheat to use the verb form in 1914.

It's kind of a bummer the OED doesn't provide the etymology of these words. That's my favorite part of reading an OED entry--sometimes they use the edgiest of edge cases to justify their definition.
posted by librarylis at 11:37 AM on December 21, 2013 [1 favorite]


Laugh-out-loud.

Well alrighty then.
posted by jquinby at 11:53 AM on December 21, 2013


I got beatbox! Hell yeah!!!!
posted by These Birds of a Feather at 11:58 AM on December 21, 2013


They think "brainiac" originated in 1975??? His first appearance as a Superman villain was in 1958!
posted by smartyboots at 12:03 PM on December 21, 2013 [1 favorite]


Oenophilic.

Which I felt good about until, disbelieving and checking further, I discovered that the word predates me by at least twenty years.

On preview, make that nearly a hundred. (Though I must say, the 1862 reference is from a most interesting account of contemporary French society, and so almost worth the disappointment.)
posted by BWA at 12:10 PM on December 21, 2013


My family:

Baddie = Baddie
|
---------------------------------
| | |
Beat Poetry Chocoholic Reboot = Nip and Tuck
******


(Ugh, can't fix spaces before end of edit window. Reboot is me)
posted by Hairy Lobster at 12:19 PM on December 21, 2013


I'm Reboot, Internet's older brother. My parents are Orbit & Newspeak.
posted by KingEdRa at 12:29 PM on December 21, 2013


chocoholic also, Thank FSM I wasn't a few days early or it would have been "bouffy, adj. Of clothing: puffed out, bulging". They year after was "blag, n. An attempt to obtain or achieve something by persuasive talk or plausible deception".

I clicked around to see some of the others and found every even-decade word is commonly used accept 1900 "natterer" and 2000 "fauxhawk", and also found some doozies in the 60's like 1966 "computernik, n. A computer expert or enthusiast."
posted by achrise at 12:42 PM on December 21, 2013


You have to be a subscriber to access this? Would somebody mind looking up 1958 for me? *bats eyelashes*
posted by jokeefe at 12:57 PM on December 21, 2013


"Ugh, can't fix spaces before end of edit window."

It's odd that multiple spaces are stripped from within <code> tags. I noticed it and used the nbsp entity.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 1:09 PM on December 21, 2013


I thought that too jokeefe, but actually the big thing in the middle of the page that looks like a non-clickable, poorly designed banner ad from 1999 is actually what you're supposed to click on. It was presented very confusingly.
posted by bleep at 1:09 PM on December 21, 2013 [2 favorites]


Thank you bleep! That really is poor design.

Photocall.
posted by jokeefe at 1:19 PM on December 21, 2013


Beat Poetry

And if that isn't enough to indicate how very old I am, I'll give you an even bigger hint:

There were exactly 49 States in the Union when I was born. (For those playing along, that narrows it down to a specific year, and a span of just a few months.)
posted by trip and a half at 2:25 PM on December 21, 2013


Chocoholic.

::::looks around:::::

My year-colleagues and I should meet up at the death-by-chocolate buffet.
posted by datawrangler at 2:28 PM on December 21, 2013


ah crap


tweet
posted by mule98J at 2:46 PM on December 21, 2013 [1 favorite]


I'm overhyped. My word, that is.

There was only one fucking word that originated in my birth year? Somehow I doubt that.

Unless you sign in as a subscriber, it just gives you a sample word for the decade. I was able to sign in through my library -- you might see if your local library subscribes to OED. (There were nine words for my birth month, but this word was the closest to my birthdate.)
posted by Margalo Epps at 3:11 PM on December 21, 2013 [1 favorite]


That's great, "laugh-out-loud", 1970.

I wonder when LOL made it in?
posted by Random Person at 4:17 PM on December 21, 2013


Bouffy. (?) The longer I live the more I realize that being born in 1960 was a gigantic mistake.
posted by telstar at 4:20 PM on December 21, 2013 [2 favorites]


I sorta like mine (GASP!), what with being a cartoonist and all...
posted by KHAAAN! at 5:12 PM on December 21, 2013


I'm one of the rare "guilt trips". My mom, otoh gets the totally cool "noshery". Damn these fates!
posted by Purposeful Grimace at 5:53 PM on December 21, 2013


I am also laugh-out-loud. LOL.
posted by Sophie1 at 7:00 PM on December 21, 2013


"air guitar".

Complete and utter letdown.
posted by flippant at 9:22 PM on December 21, 2013


Mine, too, is 'noshery,' a word I have never spoken or written apart from this comment, and I intend to keep it that way.
posted by Short Attention Sp at 6:54 AM on December 22, 2013


"Bagsy"??!? Which I guess is an early form of 'dibs', but I don't think I've ever heard that word used. Has anyone heard of this term? 1979, by the way.

Of course, my husband gets 'chill pill'! (1981)


Precisely what I was going to say! *1979 lady/1981 spouse fist bump.*
posted by apricot at 7:32 AM on December 22, 2013 [1 favorite]


Why didn't I look before?

My parents are Gobbledygook and Newspeak.
My sisters are Guilt-trip and Beatbox.

Sounds about right.
posted by Mister Moofoo at 7:47 AM on December 22, 2013 [2 favorites]


1970: lol
posted by Monkey0nCrack at 10:20 AM on December 22, 2013


Geeksville. Sounds just about right.
posted by Attozes at 10:31 AM on December 22, 2013


Bagsy? What the heck is this crap? At least we'll always have a Smashing Pumpkins song about our birth year and no one can take that away.
posted by Skwirl at 10:35 AM on December 22, 2013 [2 favorites]


Glad to see a number of other oenophilics here.
posted by gudrun at 10:55 AM on December 22, 2013


Bagsy is totally a word, although I am familiar with it as "I'll bags that".

Citation in musical form for the Echo & The Bunnymen song Bagsy Hours/Monkey from 1979/80.
I bagsy yours
If you'll bagsy mine
I'll take a chance
If you'll take the blame
Forget it
Forget it

posted by Mezentian at 3:29 PM on December 22, 2013 [1 favorite]


Brainiac here. Married to a... blag? No, that doesn't seem right.
Dad's Orbit and Mom's TV. Sis is a recyclist. Mom loves TV and Sis is a divorced Mom dating the guy who took her to Prom.
posted by luckynerd at 3:37 PM on December 22, 2013


Blag? That made the OED. I guess the rot set in long before Twerk and Selfie.
posted by Mezentian at 3:54 PM on December 22, 2013


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