# I think The Simpsons just used a word I kind of invented! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 10, 2012, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-the-simpsons-just-used-a-word-i-kind-of-invented/643557 "2012-12-10T01:27:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2012, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-the-simpsons-just-used-a-word-i-kind-of-invented/643557/61 "2012-12-11T00:53:14Z")
Moses was streets ahead. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2012, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-the-simpsons-just-used-a-word-i-kind-of-invented/643557/62 "2012-12-12T01:19:33Z")
I’ll use this thread to officially stake my claim on the word ‘offenderati’, which I’m seeing more and more on the internet, and which I heard a pundit use on TV a few weeks ago. I first used it here in 2002, and I can’t find an earlier usage. If anyone can find an earlier reference to the word, I’d be glad to hear it. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2012, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-the-simpsons-just-used-a-word-i-kind-of-invented/643557/63 "2012-12-12T04:15:46Z")
When I was a kid, I told this guy at Walmart about my idea for a TV show that was very similar to “The Secret World of Alex Mack” about a year before it aired. I forever thought he sent my idea to Nickelodeon. Now, looking back, I think he was a pedophile–he just seemed to happy that I was talking to him, and my parents seemed a bit too skeeved out by him. (I don’t remember the encounter well enough to remember if he actually did skeevy things, but I do know my parents didn’t usually react that way to adult’s talking to me. They weren’t pedophobes or anything.) I’d just thought he was so happy because I’d given him an idea for a TV show that he was going to steal. ---
**Author:** ![Waenara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/50afbb/32.png) [@Waenara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waenara)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2012, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-the-simpsons-just-used-a-word-i-kind-of-invented/643557/64 "2012-12-12T06:55:48Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > I hope that this is a whoosh. In case it isn’t, you can’t claim a thing. Do you seriously not think that there is a possibility that someone else can come up with the same thing as you independently? This thread remind me of how my father swears (_swears!!_) that he invented the phrase “Have a good one” (as in “Have a good day”). He remembers how he invented it and spread it among his group of friends, while living in Yellowknife (northern Canada) in the early 1970s. My siblings and I have told him that it’s infinitely more likely that it was independently “invented” by many people, and most likely before he even used it, but he maintains that he was the first. Although at this point I’m not sure how much he’s still serious about that claim and how much is a family in-joke when we remember it and tease him every few years. ---
**Author:** ![Mithras](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Mithras](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mithras)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2015, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-the-simpsons-just-used-a-word-i-kind-of-invented/643557/65 "2015-02-20T14:02:27Z")
> [@GrandWino](#): > > Comedian/writer Harris Wittels has been sharing HumbleBrags on Twitter for a long time, and just released a book of HumbleBrags this year . Does he owe you money? Now that he’s died, I’ve seen [multiple](http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2015/02/19/parks_and_rec_exec_harris_wittels_dead_apparent_overdose.html) [articles](http://www.theverge.com/2015/2/19/8073107/harris-wittels-parks-and-rec-humblebrag-dies-at-30)claiming he coined the term. But his Twitter account that’s pointed to as proof was created almost two years after the earliest cite in this thread. I’m dubious. ETA: Although the usage of it that I referenced above has since disappeared from the internet… ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2015, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-the-simpsons-just-used-a-word-i-kind-of-invented/643557/66 "2015-02-21T14:48:20Z")
I asked an expert, and they gave me [this](https://twitter.com/bgzimmer/status/569144043277570048) and [this](http://www.academia.edu/1231410/_Among_the_New_Words_American_Speech_Vol._87_No._1_Spring_2012_pp._89-106_). Basically, Harris Wittels popularised it, but didn’t coin it. ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2015, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-the-simpsons-just-used-a-word-i-kind-of-invented/643557/67 "2015-02-21T21:41:36Z")
Just like to say that this is a perfectly \*cromulent \*thread… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2015, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-the-simpsons-just-used-a-word-i-kind-of-invented/643557/68 "2015-02-22T13:25:57Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > I’ll use this thread to officially stake my claim on the word ‘offenderati’, which I’m seeing more and more on the internet, and which I heard a pundit use on TV a few weeks ago. I first used it here in 2002, and I can’t find an earlier usage. If anyone can find an earlier reference to the word, I’d be glad to hear it. You used it Sept. 4, 2002. [Happy Fun Pundit](http://happyfunpundit.blogspot.com/2002_06_30_archive.html) used it in his blog July 1, 2002. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2015, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-the-simpsons-just-used-a-word-i-kind-of-invented/643557/69 "2015-02-22T14:48:05Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > If anyone can find an earlier reference to the word, I’d be glad to hear it. > [@samclem](#): > > You used it Sept. 4, 2002. > [Happy Fun Pundit](http://happyfunpundit.blogspot.com/2002_06_30_archive.html) used it in his blog July 1, 2002. Are you as glad as you thought you’d be, **Sam Stone**. 🙂 I recall trying an experiment some years back. I’d attempt to coin new words then I’d google them. It astonished me how many times I got a hit. But when you figure that when you coin new words you’re often using the elements of other words and that we’re all drawing from the same well it shouldn’t have surprised me at all. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2015, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-the-simpsons-just-used-a-word-i-kind-of-invented/643557/70 "2015-02-22T15:04:31Z")
> [@aldiboronti](#): > > Are you as glad as you thought you’d be, **Sam Stone**. 🙂 > > I recall trying an experiment some years back. I’d attempt to coin new words then I’d google them. It astonished me how many times I got a hit. But when you figure that when you coin new words you’re often using the elements of other words and that we’re all drawing from the same well it shouldn’t have surprised me at all. Exactly. I have no doubt that Sam came up with it independently but someone else did first. Even if Sam was truly the first, it wouldn’t mean that he was the origin that could be traced back to the guy who used it on tv thirteen years later. It would more be more likely to be one of the dozens of others who came up with it independently. We had a thread on here once where people were asked to supply words or phrases that they made up and every single one of them had older cites somewhere else, some of which on this very board. In one case they were absolutely insistent that they originated a phrase that was in literature decades earlier. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2015, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-the-simpsons-just-used-a-word-i-kind-of-invented/643557/71 "2015-02-22T15:25:33Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > Exactly. I have no doubt that Sam came up with it independently but someone else did first. Even if Sam was truly the first, it wouldn’t mean that he was the origin that could be traced back to the guy who used it on tv thirteen years later. It would more be more likely to be one of the dozens of others who came up with it independently. > > We had a thread on here once where people were asked to supply words or phrases that they made up and every single one of them had older cites somewhere else, some of which on this very board. In one case they were absolutely insistent that they originated a phrase that was in literature decades earlier. Yeah, I’ve experienced that in our social circle, too. When we were kids in the late 80s, I remember the word “tits” to mean “cool” becoming slang among a group of friends, and I remember who consciously coined it. I didn’t notice it reaching mainstream popularity (if it can be called such) until many years later. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s a much older word, or if it simply came out around the same time from multiple sources but, in our group, it was consciously coined by a single individual and caught on. ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2015, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-the-simpsons-just-used-a-word-i-kind-of-invented/643557/72 "2015-02-23T15:02:11Z")
I think we should credit **Nzinga, Seated** for _“humblebrag.”_ It means a lot to her and she deserves it. I know how she feels because, while I don’t like to toot my own horn or anything :o, I too have a couple of neologisms to my credit. I know Breaking Bad’s Aaron Paul is typically credited with, _“Yo Bitch”_, but I invented that phrase in September, 1980 and have been using it ever since. My enunciation is a little different (and, IMHO, better) than Paul’s, with mine stretching out the _“yo”_ in decrescendo fashion (i.e. “YOoooooooo”). Then, just as the greeting-recipient is lulled into complacency toward the tailing “…oooo”, I belt out an abrupt double-fortissimo “BITCH!” I often conclude this with a double pistol hand gesture and broad smile. Over the years, I’ve noticed this phrase spreading like wildfire from the loci of my utterances. It is almost universally accepted by my greeting-targets in the good cheer with which it is intended, except, paradoxically, by a fair number of women (including a rather snotty response from my grandmother…that bitch). I also invented the phrase, _“not on your life, Barney Fife.”_ This is my variation of the phrase, _“no way, Jose.”_ I believe my phrase is superior to NW,J since it insinuates a humorous gentle taunt to the recipient (i.e. _“you’re a Fife-like bumbling idiot for asking me a stupid question”_) and also contains no, possibly misconstrued ethnic slur, vis-à-vis: _“Jose.”_ (what, only Spanish people ask stupid questions?) I humbly (neither sneakily nor stealthy) offer _“not on your life, Barney Fife”_ to the public domain. Please use it freely and often, with my blessing. I do, however insist on monetary compensation for the written, verbal or conscious awareness of _“Yo, BITCH!”_ and its derivatives, _“yo”_ and _“bitch.”_ I accept PayPal and bitcoins. I’ve invented many other words and phrases over the years that may or may not have seeped into the collective consciousness of Western and Eastern civilizations. But, I’ve forgotten them all and therefore make no additional claims at this time. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2015, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-the-simpsons-just-used-a-word-i-kind-of-invented/643557/73 "2015-02-23T16:51:43Z")
The only word I can claim coining is “touchwarming,” and amalgam of “touching” and “heartwarming,” to be used either whimsically, sarcastically, facetiously, or with irony. It just popped out one day when I was talking with a colleague at work. _“I find your concern very touchwarming!”_🙂 / :mad: / :dubious: / 😃 / :eek: Come on, people, let’s all start using it! Then I can reference this post someday and claim authorship! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-the-simpsons-just-used-a-word-i-kind-of-invented/643557.md?page=3)