Who’s yer zaddy?
When was the last time y’all cracked open a dictionary? If you’re like me, it’s probably been a minute.
That’s because dictionaries have been available on the internet since 1996, when “Merriam-Webster OnLine” debuted. How much less space a dictionary takes up on a bookshelf when it’s online! And how much easier it is each year to look up the meaning of the hundreds of new words that the fools in charge of online dictionaries decide are worthy of inclusion.
This year, 231 new words, 65 new definitions of existing words and 925 revised definitions were added to Dictionary.com. Now, these numbers might seem paltry when you learn the Second Edition of the 20-volume Oxford English Dictionary contains full entries for 171,476 words in current use and 47,156 obsolete words. But I’m saying that we probably don’t need 231 new words, especially when a person’s average vocabulary ranges from 20,000 to 35,000 words.
I mean, I have a pretty good vocabulary already. I really don’t see the need to add 231 more words, most of which are buzzwords or fractured versions of already existing words that already serve me just fine. For example, my first two sentences may have made you think I’m from the South because I said, “y’all.” But our friends at Dictionary.com tell us that “y’all” is now perfectly acceptable English, and not only for Americans. As proof I offer my German journalist friend, who quite often says, “Goodnight, y’all,” on Twitter. But the usage grates on me when used by anyone not living south of the Mason-Dixon line.
I know that this is rich coming from someone who lives in Pittsburgh, where the use of “yinz” as a second-person-plural noun runs rampant. But I’m not from Pittsburgh, and I have never said “yinz” in normal conversation and never will. I will admit that it’s better than “youse,” which I’m told originated with Irish immigrants to America. These are regionalisms, and I have learned to live with them.
But some new words, I never will understand. Take, for example, “zaddy.”
Dictionary.com tells me that this newly added word is defined as “an attractive man who is also stylish, charming, and self-confident.”
Oh! A Beau Brummel!
Like as not many of my readers will have to look up that term as well. If you’re my age and a fan of British Invasion rock, you may associate the term with a San Francisco-based band popular in the mid-1960s, the Beau Brummels. But the original Beau Brummel was an Englishman, George Bryan Brummel, who became a fashion plate by dressing in tailor-made long pants and tailcoats at a time when knickers were the more common male attire. His fancy outfits also included immaculate linen shirts and elaborately knotted cravats – that’s a tie for those of us who get our Sunday-go-to-meetin’ duds at Kohl’s.
In his lifetime, Beau was considered a “dandy.” And that word is 1800s slang for “zaddy,” a term for which we can thank American singer, songwriter and record producer Ty Dolla $ign, whose real name is Tyrone William Griffin Jr. I never heard of him, either.
Look … I know I’m old. But I understand that each new generation kids come up with their own terminology. Fifties teenagers popularized “cats and kittens” for boys and girls. My generation said pretty girls were “tuff.” Later, if a thing was really swell, we said it was “outta sight!” Heck, I still say “groovy” and “bummer.”
A few years ago my partner-in-crime and I were stumped when her twentysomething son said our dog was “derpy.” Had to look it up. Turns out it came from a 1998 movie, “BASEketball,” by “South Park” creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone. “A derp” is “a person or thing considered to be foolish or awkward.” OK, I’ll run with that. But a bit more research tells me that the term actually has its origins in an offensive description of a mentally handicapped person.
One more thing: In my second sentence, I said, “It’s been a minute” since I opened a dictionary. What I meant was, “It’s been a long time.” I had never heard “it’s been a minute” in this usage until a friend used it in a Facebook post last week.
Well, each to his own.
Sorry! Online sources such as “Lifehacker” tell me I should use “gender neutral nouns” in such an instance. So I will.
Each to yinz own.
I guess I’m just derpy.