in order to qualify as a candidate in the vote for potential awads, the potential candidate requires a qualifying thread. we know that it's fairly recent UK slang, first found in print around 1985, and the etymology is pretty obvious (smacked in the gob, or mouth); but does anyone get credit for coining this lovely word?
aside: Jackie, why didn't you tell us that you'd been cited in the OED?! I'm gobsmacked!! 1989 Jackie 25 Nov. 43/1 Won't they be gobsmacked when you tell them that you wrote to me?
the Word Detective discusses this in one of his long columns, so I'll just extract the salient bit here:
Dear Word Detective: Here in Canada we are quite used to hearing a lot of British expressions. However, I was recently in London and heard about six words I am not familiar with. The first one I will send and ask you to explain is "Gobsmacked." Methinks it's something naughty. -- Arnie Wachman, via the internet.
Oh, good. You know, I was worried about how I was going to spend the long winter nights over the next few months. But now I know I can plan on many happy hours trying to unravel the mysteries of British slang, a species so obscure that even the natives of that charming isle often haven't the vaguest notion of what they're really saying or where it came from.
In this case, however, we're both getting off lightly, because compared to such Britishisms as "toad in the hole" (a mashed-potato and sausage concoction, I've been told), "gobsmacked" is fairly easy to explain. "Gob" is a very old (about 400 years old, actually) English dialect word meaning "mouth," probably taken from Gaelic or Scots, and related to "gab," also meaning "mouth" or, more commonly, "speech." To be "gobsmacked" is to be astonished or flabbergasted, as stunned as if you had been suddenly "smacked" (struck) in the mouth. Curiously, "gobsmacked" has only been found in print as far back as the 1980s, but it's reasonable to assume that the term has been around for much longer.
"Gobsmacked" isn't really "naughty" in the sexual sense, but it is generally considered a bit rude and would not be a good choice of words were you to find yourself in certain social situations (i.e., "Blimey, Your Majesty, I'm gobsmacked" would probably be a mistake). Other words based on "gob" (such as the verb "gob," meaning "to spit") are also not considered fit for polite company, and even the relatively benign "gobstopper" (a type of large hard candy popular with children) would probably raise Her Majesty's eyebrows.
While I agree with most of what the Word Detective said, I have to take issue on one point: Toad-in-the-hole. It has nothing whatsoever to do with mashed potato and everything to do with yorkshire pudding batter. Take one large dish, butter liberally, fill with yorkshire pudding batter and insert sausages. Cook until the sausages are done and the batter rises up around them. Wonderful! (Unless made by school cooks who always manage to make the pudding bit taste like shoe leather)
Later Edit: PS. Apologies for the food post, but he's maligning a great British dish, so I felt it important to set the record straight!
Have looked this up, but can't find the reason why everyone is always apologising for food references. I'm sure there's a very good, humourous reason for it, but I'm interested. I LOVE food. I suspect the fact that people LOVE food could be the reason we don't talk about it? Should I feel guilty for mentioning food in a post?
I can see you are quite the connoisseur d'hote cuisine there RKay, now arn't you. ;-) In all honesty though, I think British food gets a bad rap.
Back to 'gobsmacked' ..I have heard 'gobstruck' said too. But this is a whole word cluster... or whatever they're called... because there's the 'gift of the gab' and there's 'gabby'.. then there's 'gobby', and then there's 'a gobbin' (from 'a gobbin idiot' I think), ......etc. English slang is such a laugh. I have the feeling that these composite (compound?) words are quite prominant in Brit slang... I can think of a handful which I'd really rather not mention right now. Particularly the noun/past-tense verb combination. I guess it's an easy means of words formation at anyone's disposal.
Food i.e. deglutition, gluttony, rumination etc.... has been responable for many a long digestion, err, burp, digression. So those who feel the need to swap recipes are kindly asked to do so elswhere.
P.S. The truth though is that no one has any real control over what you or I DO discuss. So howsaboutthat sponge of yours?
I'm having difficulty reconciling toad-in-the-hole and haute cuisine in the same sentence, but on the whole I'd agree with the sentiment that the food's a lot better than it's reputation.
As to word formation, it's a bit of a speciality - you can string together most things if you wanted to, however as you say they're usually more or less unprintable. 'Jifflebottom' was always a childhood favourite though.
it all my fault HEV-- a thread about word for the staff of life (bread, rolls, biscuits, crumpets, the whole lot, )turned into a recipe swap.. with the fine points of sweet vs sour (butter)milk, and grades of flour, thrown in for good measure. it went on, and on, and every once in a while talked about a word..
notice how no one is complaining about the limericks? vittle are out.. but bawdy is always in!
Here I be, just a-suckin' on a LemonHead, Havin' nothin' more to dread, Was that a dirty word I said? Great green gobs of jolly-olly LemonHead, Right up in my mouf'...
I be glad to gitonback where I belong, Singin' silly-illy songs, One's about a billabong; That bee's ting, it's never gonna do me wrong, 'Cause I love it so...
Catchin' up is what I been a-doin' here, Woody-oodies in my ears; There's the one I hold so dear; Rocky Top is sounding oh so loud and clear, Made me smile all day!
Rocky Top is sounding oh so loud and clear, Made me smile all day!
Well I'm just gobsmacked and tickled pink to see ya back to lighting up the board again! Guess the modesty of acknowledging your citation in the OED made you break out into jolly-olly song for us, huh Jackie? Keep them tunes a-comin'! I can hear that fiddle music now!...
gobbledygook
Once had a long discussion with someone on another board who insisted this was gobblygook. I've seen gobbledegook, but never without the -dy or -de in the middle.
A related word, according to my Irish slang source (http://www.loughman.dna.ie/general/4mymofo.html) is "gobdaw", which is reportedly used to mean "a fool, or an idiot". the example they use is "That fella's a right gobdaw".
Perhaps Rubrick can verify this for us ~ and while you're at it, whence "daw"?
JazzO- I've been hit with a fish (in Pike Place Market no less). Gobsmacked would aptly describe how I felt. Moral of the story "when the crowd parts...MOVE".
I've been hit with a fish (in Pike Place Market no less).
Hmmm. Was the assault scripted by John Cleese and Michael Palin, and was the assaulter fishily dressed in khaki shorts and blouson jacket, long socks and boots and topped off with a solar topee? By any chance?
Yes the finer points of my life sometimes feel scripted by John Cleese. Alas, as I stood there looking at the crowd looking back at me there was no one to yell "Cut".
Pike Place Market has a fish stall where they throw your order around and out into the crowd. A worker is supposed to catch it. Have you heard of it? It's semi-famous. Anyway I was innocently walking by... and I was gobsmacked.
When visiting Ireland I went to Mayo (God Help Us) with my Irish cousin and we had tea at "Gob a macree" which was explained to me as an Irish phrase meaning "Mouth of my Heart" .... obviously it loses in translation, but it means speaking with the deepest feeling you are capable of. I may have spelling incorrect but ... the Macree is like the song "Mother Macree" which translates roughly as mother of my heart ... making the song appropriate for any mother, natural, step or whatever in these PC times.
Mother Macree from my memory :
There's a place in my heart which no other may own, There's a depth in my soul never sounded or known, There's a place in my mem'ry, my life, that you fill, No one can replace you, no one ever will.
Sure, I love the dear silver that shines in your hair, And the brow that's all wrinkled and furrowed with care, I kiss the dear fingers, so toilworn for me, Oh, God bless you and keep you, Mother Macree.
More than semi-famous in my household! I have a picture of it on my kitchen wall! "A Pike Place Triptych" was bought in the market. I didn't get hit but I did see the flying fish - also good for signs on the stacked up fruit and veg warning people of sudden death (or worse) if they touch the carefully stacked works of art. Great place for bars too - featured in "Sleepless in Seattle" (a chick flick, I believe).
Definition of chick flick... Well, that settles it--now I know I'm a man! I couldn't stand Sleepless in Seattle. Give me Arnie (Schwartzenegger) or 007 any day! My best girlfriends think it's awful that I hated "Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood", but my gosh--I spent the entire book waiting for something--ANYthing!--to happen, and nothing ever did! Geez! Give me some action, in books or movies.
A related word, according to my Irish slang source (http://www.loughman.dna.ie/general/4mymofo.html) is "gobdaw", which is reportedly used to mean "a fool, or an idiot". the example they use is "That fella's a right gobdaw".
Perhaps Rubrick can verify this for us ~ and while you're at it, whence "daw"?
Gobdaw is mostly rural slang (not Dublinese wot I speak). Gob = mouth. Daw (duh) = idiot.
More common is the less PC gobshite which can actually sound pretty funny coming out of the gob of a gobdaw.
Fr. Jack Hackett, a fictional character from the very popular Irish comedy programme Fr. Ted had a vocabulary of five words - one of which was gobshite. For the correct pronunciation of this (and other words) have a look at the unofficial Fr. Ted website below.
I spent the entire book waiting for something--ANYthing!--to happen, and nothing ever did! Geez! Give me some action
Too bad the meter of authoress Rebecca Well's name doesn't substitute into into this double-dactyl about a similar book:
Higgledy, piggledy, Dorothy Richardson Wrote a huge book with her Delicate muse Where (though I hate to seem Uncomplimentary) Nothing much happens and Nobody scruse.
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Should I feel guilty for mentioning food in a post?
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