Did Roahl Dahl coin any adjectives that are now part of mainstream English?

[Asympotically_fat]

@RivkahChaya

I’ve heard “gobstopper” used as a generic term for a jawbreaker, kind of like “Band-Aid” as a generic term for “adhesive bandage,” or “Kleenex” for “disposable paper handkerchief.” That probably required the intervention of the “Wonka” brand candy making a small jawbreaker called a gobstopper, though. The word has a legitimate etymology, though-- sort of “stopping you from gobbling,” by being a candy that necessarily must be eaten slowly, which is certainly what a jawbreaker is.

ETA: so it’s a noun and not an adjective. Still interesting.

“Gobstopper” wasn’t a word invented by Dahl, it’s just what the sweet is known as in the UK.

[Mangetout]

@RivkahChaya

I’ve heard “gobstopper” used as a generic term for a jawbreaker, kind of like “Band-Aid” as a generic term for “adhesive bandage,” or “Kleenex” for “disposable paper handkerchief.” That probably required the intervention of the “Wonka” brand candy making a small jawbreaker called a gobstopper, though. The word has a legitimate etymology, though-- sort of “stopping you from gobbling,” by being a candy that necessarily must be eaten slowly, which is certainly what a jawbreaker is.

ETA: so it’s a noun and not an adjective. Still interesting.

‘Gobstopper’ is the British term for hard candy balls. I think the etymology is just from ‘gob’=mouth and ‘stopper’=plug.

I don’t think Dahl coined the term - just used it in the ‘everlasting’ context.

[psychonaut]

@Mangetout

‘Gobstopper’ is the British term for hard candy balls. I think the etymology is just from ‘gob’=mouth and ‘stopper’=plug.

And it seems to have been used in some idiomatic phrases back in the 1930s. I’ve spotted a couple very old German books for English language learners which explain that “You want a gobstopper” is a figure of speech meaning “You talk too much”.

[Peter_Morris]

@Mangetout

‘Gobstopper’ is the British term for hard candy balls. I think the etymology is just from ‘gob’=mouth and ‘stopper’=plug.

I don’t think Dahl coined the term - just used it in the ‘everlasting’ context.

Correct. The concept of a gobstopper that lasts forever is meaningless unless you already know what a gobstopper is.

[psychonaut]

@Joey_P

You might start here.
From what I’m reading (on Dahl’s wiki page) “Scrumdiddlyumptious” is his word.

Probably not—the OED3’s earliest citation for the word (spelled “scrumdiddliumptous”) is from a 1942 dictionary of American slang.

[psychonaut]

I should add that this month the OED editors added or updated a number of words connected with Dahl, though as far as I can tell, only one was actually coined by him. The new or revised entries popularized but not coined by Dahl include frightsome, scrummy, scrumptious, splendiferous, splendiferousness, scrumdiddlyumptious, human bean, and witching hour. Unless I’ve missed something, the only new entry coined by Dahl is Oompa Loompa.

[md2000]

@RivkahChaya

Now that I think about it, I did once hear a person described as “Getting Oopma Loompaed,” to mean getting eliminated from a competition in an embarrassing way-- kind of the opposite of “unceremoniously.” Some reality shows do this apparently.

I thought “Oompa Loompa” referred to anyone with an orange hue and tiny hands…

[Colibri]

@md2000

I thought “Oompa Loompa” referred to anyone with an orange hue and tiny hands…

Moderator Note

Let’s avoid political jabs in GQ. No warning issued.

Colibri
General Questions Moderator

[Peter_Morris]

@Colibri

Moderator Note

Let’s avoid political jabs in GQ. No warning issued.

Explain, please. In this thread.

[eclectic_wench]

Around here an oompa-loompa is someone who wears too much fake tan. No connection to height.

[Annie-Xmas]

In the original Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Willy Wonka’s employees were African pygmys who were paid in cocoa beans (and no, that is not a reference to our current President). IHe would later rewrite the tale for "political correctness,"t was only the later editions that had the Oompah Loompahs.

I so wish I still had my first edition copy.

[Ornery_Bob]

In the movie, The Blind Side, Sandra Bullock’s character refers to a short football player as “Oompa Loompa.”

Something like… “It’s the same thing for oompa loompa here, he’s part of the family and you need to protect the family.”

(She’s trying to get Michael to see his team mates as his family… that he has a natural instinct to protect.)

[psychonaut]

@Annie-Xmas

In the original Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Willy Wonka’s employees were African pygmys who were paid in cocoa beans (and no, that is not a reference to our current President). IHe would later rewrite the tale for "political correctness,"t was only the later editions that had the Oompah Loompahs.

I’m pretty sure the pygmies in the original edition were Oompa-Loompas. Dahl later changed the creatures’ physical characteristics and origin, but kept the name the same.

[Captain_Amazing]

He didn’t create, but he popularized the word “gremlin”.

[davidmich]

@Captain_Amazing

He didn’t create, but he popularized the word “gremlin”.

Thanks for that Captain Amazing. Thank you all.

[TBG]

@psychonaut

I’m pretty sure the pygmies in the original edition were Oompa-Loompas. Dahl later changed the creatures’ physical characteristics and origin, but kept the name the same.

Yes, I’ve read the original version, this is correct.

[Noel_Prosequi]

As to Top Gear’s Stig, I heard that it was originally a term of abuse for new boys at the school attended by Clarkson (Repton). This much is supported by Wiki. I also recall hearing that the origin of the expression was that such boys were originally called “gits”, an insult word of general application in UK English, but staff prohibited its use. So it was reversed to become “Stig”.

[Noel_Prosequi]

As it happens, and entirely co-incidentally, Roald Dahl also attended Repton.