Betcha don't know the original definition of a "comer." Back in 1879, the Oxford English Dictionary said a comer was a crab. Why? "A crab ...is always very poor to begin with; but he eats everything he gets hold of, which fattens him up some. Then he is called a comer."
By 1913, the plumped-up crab definition gave way to "a person who shows great progress or potential," according to "Hatchet Jobs and Hardball: The Oxford Dictionary of Political Slang." Editor Grant Barrett spent hour upon hour reading to create the book, which came out in paperback this month.
"The best slang consistently comes out of the blogs," he said. "Wonkette has a penchant for creating new terms. …
No comments:
Post a Comment