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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?
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but does anyone get credit for coining this lovely word?
Haven't found a coinage reference, but here's a link to some info:
http://www.quinion.com/words/qa/qa-gob1.htm
FWIW, I love the word gobsmacked! It's so expressive...
Hev
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Way to go, Jackie, and a hearty congratulations! You are so modest not to have mentioned the Ed Honor!
Now, when one has heard too much jabberwocky or balderdash, could you say you'd been gabsmacked?
Way beyond the blue,
OrB~
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Sounds like being hit with a fish to me. 
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Carpal Tunnel
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Dear Jazz,
You mean Mrs. Bryne's endearing term Gobnobbled?
Hit with a fish,
WordWobnobbled
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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.from http://www.word-detective.com/012000.htmlI think that the Word Detective erred a tad, using i.e. when he actually wanted e.g. aside to wordwobbled: gab can be a variant of gob, so gabsmacked....
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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!
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<off-topic> Apologies for the food post
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?
Hev
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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.
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Hi Hev,
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?
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