# Why has the term "stabby" suddenly erupted into the popular lexicon? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 25, 2008, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-has-the-term-stabby-suddenly-erupted-into-the-popular-lexicon/439130 "2008-02-25T23:24:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/51bf81/32.png) [@TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2008, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-has-the-term-stabby-suddenly-erupted-into-the-popular-lexicon/439130/1 "2008-02-25T23:24:03Z")
In the last year, but especially in the last six months, the cutesy term “stabby” has suddenly proliferated in common speech. It’s usually used as “I’m feeling stabby” or “bad drivers make me stabby,” etc. As with most things like this, there’s probably a factual answer. What is the source of this now-popular term? ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2008, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-has-the-term-stabby-suddenly-erupted-into-the-popular-lexicon/439130/2 "2008-02-25T23:25:51Z")
Don’t know if this is _the_ factual answer, but it’s in a Simpsons episode. I believe Fat Tony says “I don’t get mad, I get stabby.” Edit: Ah, [here](http://www.snpp.com/episodes/BABF07) it is. “Grift of the Magi,” originally aired 12/19/1999. ---
**Author:** ![flurb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@flurb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flurb)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2008, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-has-the-term-stabby-suddenly-erupted-into-the-popular-lexicon/439130/3 "2008-02-25T23:28:07Z")
Anectdotal, but I have never heard anybody use this word once, ever. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2008, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-has-the-term-stabby-suddenly-erupted-into-the-popular-lexicon/439130/4 "2008-02-25T23:32:56Z")
I’d personally guess that it comes from gaming, though I’ve only ever heard of it as “stabbity.” In which case it comes from rogue class in WoW, most likely. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2008, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-has-the-term-stabby-suddenly-erupted-into-the-popular-lexicon/439130/5 "2008-02-25T23:35:47Z")
Outside of the _Simpsons_ and _Kitchen Confidential,_ I’ve never heard anyone use this expression. ---
**Author:** ![TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/51bf81/32.png) [@TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2008, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-has-the-term-stabby-suddenly-erupted-into-the-popular-lexicon/439130/6 "2008-02-25T23:42:46Z")
It’s so popular that it’s actually in the subject line of [a current thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=457049), where the OP thought it was a line in a song he was listening to. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2008, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-has-the-term-stabby-suddenly-erupted-into-the-popular-lexicon/439130/7 "2008-02-25T23:46:30Z")
Must be a regional thing. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2008, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-has-the-term-stabby-suddenly-erupted-into-the-popular-lexicon/439130/8 "2008-02-25T23:47:07Z")
It has the feel of a Buffy quote to it. ---
**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 25, 2008, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-has-the-term-stabby-suddenly-erupted-into-the-popular-lexicon/439130/9 "2008-02-25T23:59:17Z")
[QUOTE=beowulff] Must be a regional thing. [/QUOTE] Could be. I’ve never heard it outside the Simpsons, either, FWIW. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2008, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-has-the-term-stabby-suddenly-erupted-into-the-popular-lexicon/439130/10 "2008-02-26T00:03:26Z")
[QUOTE=beowulff] Must be a regional thing. [/QUOTE] Agreed. Other than the thread mentioned, I have never heard it. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2008, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-has-the-term-stabby-suddenly-erupted-into-the-popular-lexicon/439130/11 "2008-02-26T00:08:54Z")
[“Mr Stabby”](http://www.google.com/search?q=%22mr+stabby%22&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a) at [Weebl’s stuff.](http://www.weebls-stuff.com/) ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2008, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-has-the-term-stabby-suddenly-erupted-into-the-popular-lexicon/439130/12 "2008-02-26T00:09:28Z")
[Mr. Stabby](http://www.weebls-stuff.com/toons/Mr+Stabby/), maybe? (Flash cartoon with music, so don’t whine to me when you get busted for watching it at work. You have been warned.) ---
**Author:** ![Strain\_of\_Thought](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3be4f8/32.png) [@Strain\_of\_Thought](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Strain_of_Thought)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2008, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-has-the-term-stabby-suddenly-erupted-into-the-popular-lexicon/439130/13 "2008-02-26T00:11:10Z")
I see ‘stabbity’ and other cute manglings of stab very regularly in webcomics and other adult-oriented sequential art. I think I may have even seen it as far back as Johnen Vasquez’s “Johnny The Homicidal Maniac”, in the nineties. There’s just something morbidly giggle-inducing about the juxtaposition of childish language and extreme violence. For example, it’s a running gag in [“Wiki’s Lessons In Life” comics (featuring elephants!)](http://www.wikislessons.com/index.php?date=2005-07-15) that the little elephant really only ever has one thing on its mind. (Hint: It involves stabbing people up!) ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2008, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-has-the-term-stabby-suddenly-erupted-into-the-popular-lexicon/439130/14 "2008-02-26T00:12:20Z")
It isn’t used around the Senior Center, I can tell you that. Damn kids. ---
**Author:** ![jasonh300](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/46a35a/32.png) [@jasonh300](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasonh300)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2008, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-has-the-term-stabby-suddenly-erupted-into-the-popular-lexicon/439130/15 "2008-02-26T00:39:26Z")
[QUOTE=TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW] As with most things like this, there’s probably a factual answer. What is the source of this now-popular term? [/QUOTE] It’s a perfectly cromulent word formed by embiggening the word “stab”. ---
**Author:** ![chorpler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chorpler/32/2888_2.png) [@chorpler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chorpler)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2008, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-has-the-term-stabby-suddenly-erupted-into-the-popular-lexicon/439130/16 "2008-02-26T01:06:51Z")
First it became popularized by that Simpsons episode in 1999. Then on the Friends episode “The One With the Mugging,” which aired some time in 2003, Ross asked Phoebe if there were any other mugger friends of hers he should watch out for, and she said “No … oh, actually, you should probably stay away from Jane Street … that’s where Stabby Joe works.” Clearly this exposure from two very popular sitcoms caused it to violently fuse into the subconscious of the American public, and it’s now beginning to trickle out into their everyday lives. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2008, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-has-the-term-stabby-suddenly-erupted-into-the-popular-lexicon/439130/17 "2008-02-26T01:18:48Z")
There was a crazy robot named Roberto in an episode of Futurama who was obsessed with stabbing people. It aired in 2001 but I can’t remember if the word “stabby” was used. ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2008, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-has-the-term-stabby-suddenly-erupted-into-the-popular-lexicon/439130/18 "2008-02-26T02:31:07Z")
Definitely something popularized by, if not created on _The Simpsons_. In addition to Fat Tony getting “stabby”, and associating with “Stabby Joe”, there are numerous other episodes using the word “stab” to humorous effect. For example, the episode _The Mansion Family_ sees Homer and friends indulging in “the simple joys of a [monkey knife fight](http://tinyurl.com/2nvrn4)” between chimps staged offshore (outside US legal jurisdiction), with Moe egging them on: “Circle, circle, now stab… Stab stab stab! Ha ha, he ain’t pretty no more!” (And later, Mr. Burns bemoaning: “Oh, Furious George! What have they done to your beautiful face?”) Also, in the episode _Trilogy of Error_, Marge calls 911 to report accidentally severing Homer’s thumb with a kitchen knife, then giving her address as “123 Fake Street” when the cops say they’re on their way to arrest her for assault. When the police arrive at said address, they kick in the door and say, “OK, drop the knife, Stabitha!” OK maybe it’s just me that finds that hilarous, after all I did name my firstborn Tabitha. (She was born before the episode aired.) “Flammable and inflammable mean the same thing? What a country!” (Dr. Nick Riviera) ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2008, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-has-the-term-stabby-suddenly-erupted-into-the-popular-lexicon/439130/19 "2008-02-26T11:24:44Z")
Never heard it before. ---
**Author:** ![Flander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8c91f0/32.png) [@Flander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flander)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2008, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-has-the-term-stabby-suddenly-erupted-into-the-popular-lexicon/439130/20 "2008-02-26T14:49:43Z")
I’ve used it. My first exposure to the phrase was here on the SDMB. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-has-the-term-stabby-suddenly-erupted-into-the-popular-lexicon/439130.md?page=2)