# Neologisms coined by non-literary people
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neologisms-coined-by-non-literary-people/533299
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [March 22, 2010, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neologisms-coined-by-non-literary-people/533299 "2010-03-22T03:26:46Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellis_Aponte_Jr)
#### Post date: [March 22, 2010, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neologisms-coined-by-non-literary-people/533299/1 "2010-03-22T03:26:46Z")
The ones you can trace back to a single person and which have entered the popular lexicon.
Like Justin Timberlake with “wardrobe malfunction.”
What are some other examples?
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### Author:  [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)
#### Post date: [March 22, 2010, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neologisms-coined-by-non-literary-people/533299/2 "2010-03-22T12:19:32Z")
May I suggest that _Urban Dictionary_ not be quoted as a “source” for any neologism worth discussing? How many per day are we getting these day? 🙂
My first reaction is that many of the everyday ones are from sports and sports reporting, Yogi Berra, and cartoons. I’m going to try to think of some actual examples, but I wanted to put in a vote for a good topic!
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### Author:  [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)
#### Post date: [March 22, 2010, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neologisms-coined-by-non-literary-people/533299/3 "2010-03-22T12:24:06Z")
Just to get them out of the way…
“d’oh” and “cromulent” from The Simpsons.
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### Author:  [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)
#### Post date: [March 22, 2010, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neologisms-coined-by-non-literary-people/533299/4 "2010-03-22T13:37:51Z")
Before _Seinfeld_ it was “blah, blah, blah” but running a close second nowadays is “yada, yada, yada” so I guess the issue is more a matter of are Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David “non-literary people”?
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### Author:  [@fluiddruid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fluiddruid)
#### Post date: [March 22, 2010, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neologisms-coined-by-non-literary-people/533299/5 "2010-03-22T13:45:08Z")
> [@Zeldar](#):
>
> Before _Seinfeld_ it was “blah, blah, blah” but running a close second nowadays is “yada, yada, yada” so I guess the issue is more a matter of are Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David “non-literary people”?
Yadda, yadda, yadda was around way before Seinfeld. [The master speaks.](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2067/whats-the-origin-of-yadda-yadda)
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### Author:  [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)
#### Post date: [March 22, 2010, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neologisms-coined-by-non-literary-people/533299/6 "2010-03-22T13:49:07Z")
> [@fluiddruid](#):
>
> Yadda, yadda, yadda was around way before Seinfeld. [The master speaks.](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2067/whats-the-origin-of-yadda-yadda)
Well, dog my cats.
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### Author:  [@Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellis_Aponte_Jr)
#### Post date: [March 22, 2010, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neologisms-coined-by-non-literary-people/533299/7 "2010-03-22T14:22:33Z")
> [@Zeldar](#):
>
> Before _Seinfeld_ it was “blah, blah, blah” but running a close second nowadays is “yada, yada, yada” so I guess the issue is more a matter of are Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David “non-literary people”?
I think we should exclude scriptwriters for our purposes, and comedians as well, since they are all wordsmiths by nature. I would exclude songwriters too. And politicians who have speechwriters - but if they were speaking extemporaneously, that’s different. Yogi Berra is fair game, although as he claims, “I didn’t say half the things I said.” At least I think he said that.
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### Author:  [@light\_strand](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/light_strand)
#### Post date: [March 22, 2010, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neologisms-coined-by-non-literary-people/533299/8 "2010-03-22T14:35:14Z")
I’ve heard it said that Bill Bellamy coined the tem “booty call”.
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### Author:  [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)
#### Post date: [March 22, 2010, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neologisms-coined-by-non-literary-people/533299/9 "2010-03-22T14:40:23Z")
I was going to write that Warren G. Harding coined “normalcy”, but I see now that would be wrong.
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### Author:  [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)
#### Post date: [March 22, 2010, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neologisms-coined-by-non-literary-people/533299/10 "2010-03-22T14:40:55Z")
Boxing manager [Joe Jacobs](http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,763952,00.html).
> [@](#):
>
> Sportswriters liked little Joe Jacobs. He was generous, gregarious, made good copy. They liked the taunts he put into beer-bibbing Tony Galento’s mouth: “I’ll murder dat bum” (Joe Louis). They echoed his casual remarks until they became part of Broadway’s vernacular: “We wuz robbed” (when Schmeling lost to Sharkey in their second fight for the heavyweight title); “I shoulda stood in bed” (when he found himself among the shivering spectators at a World Series game one frosty day in Detroit).
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### Author:  [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)
#### Post date: [March 22, 2010, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neologisms-coined-by-non-literary-people/533299/11 "2010-03-22T14:42:08Z")
I guess neologisms need to be things other than mispronunciations, too. Otherwise, the old Dizzy Dean word “slud” for “slid” as in “Peewee slud into third” might be counted.
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### Author:  [@Rrose\_Selavy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rrose_Selavy)
#### Post date: [March 22, 2010, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neologisms-coined-by-non-literary-people/533299/12 "2010-03-22T15:41:12Z")
The one I hate is “gate” added to the end of any word or phrase to describe or suggest a possible scandal /cover up -
obviously derived from from the original Watergate scandal
in the British press we have so many the latest being “lobbygate”
> **[This is London Magazine](https://www.thisislondontickets.co.uk/)**
>
> This is London magazine has been established for over 65 years, providing readers with information about events, exhibitions, music, concerts, theatre and dining. As life returns to normal, Londoners are heading back into the Capital and many...
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### Author:  [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2010, 8:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neologisms-coined-by-non-literary-people/533299/13 "2010-03-30T08:38:32Z")
> [@fluiddruid](#):
>
> Yadda, yadda, yadda was around way before Seinfeld. [The master speaks.](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2067/whats-the-origin-of-yadda-yadda)
SamClem == Cecil :eek:
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### Author:  [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2010, 9:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neologisms-coined-by-non-literary-people/533299/14 "2010-03-30T09:01:03Z")
Forget Cecil. **samclem** is the true master. All bow down before **samclem**!
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2010, 10:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neologisms-coined-by-non-literary-people/533299/15 "2010-03-30T10:10:39Z")
Did ‘Wardrobe Malfunction’ really not exist before the Justin Timberlake/Janet Jackson thing?
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### Author:  [@cactus\_waltz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cactus_waltz)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2010, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neologisms-coined-by-non-literary-people/533299/16 "2010-03-30T10:59:18Z")
How about Snoop Dogg and “fo shizzle”?
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### Author:  [@Strinka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Strinka)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2010, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neologisms-coined-by-non-literary-people/533299/17 "2010-03-30T12:55:30Z")
Does Gary Larson count as a literary person? If not, [thagomizer](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thagomizer).
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### Author:  [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2010, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neologisms-coined-by-non-literary-people/533299/18 "2010-03-30T13:16:07Z")
“Jack Shit” (as in “I can’t see Jack Shit out there”) has been traced to an underground comic book by Spain Rodriguez, one of his biker stories about the Road Vultures. (Source: **The Comics Journal** interview with Mike Baron, writer of **Nexus** and **The Badger** , back in the 80s.)
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### Author:  [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2010, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neologisms-coined-by-non-literary-people/533299/19 "2010-03-30T13:26:16Z")
Also: “Person of Interest” was coined (by then-Attorney General Janet Reno, IIRC) to describe Richard Jewell of the 1996 Olympic Park bombing. “Person of Interest” was shorthand for “We suspect this person of this heinous act, but lack the evidence to formally accuse him of it. He’s not officially a suspect, wink, wink.” The term was also famously used in regards to Mark Hatfill regarding his possible role in the 2001 Anthrax scares.
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2010, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neologisms-coined-by-non-literary-people/533299/20 "2010-03-30T21:55:11Z")
> [@](#):
>
> The one I hate is “gate” added to the end of any word or phrase to describe or suggest a possible scandal /cover up -
> obviously derived from from the original Watergate scandal
Wasn’t that coined by newspaper reporters, though? I would count them as “literary”.
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