Wednesday's Random Slang-o-rama: Crack up

I recall the phrase you crack me up and variations of such from my teen years, which is why I thought it must be a recent saying. But as you know, I am more often than not wrong about such things. Thank goodness for research, idiom dictionaries, and the internet...

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Crack up actually has several slang-ish meanings, and my trusty copy of The American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer runs down the list, providing "first use" dates for a couple of them. There's crack up as in to suffer an emotional breakdown (early 1900s). Then, crack up meaning to damage or wreck a vehicle or vessel and ato experience a crash (no first use dates for those two definitions). Finally we get to the phrase I'm interested in: crack someone up, meaning to "burst or cause to burst out laughing (1940).

American Slang, 2nd Edition by Robert L. Chapman with Barbara Ann Kipfer agrees with the 1940 date for crack up meaning "to have a fit of uncontrollable laughter." Interestingly, the next entry is "crack wise" from the 1920s, which means to make quick pungent, witty, and often malicious remarks. But I digress.

But wait a minute! The Online Etymology Dictionary has this to say about crack up:

The verbal phrase in the meaning "to break up laughing" is by 1967, transitive and intransitive.

Without getting too specific, 1967 is just about right for my teen years... but doesn't line up with what the other dictionaries say. Here's one more data point for you, then: Your Dictionary's page on 1940s slang lists crack up (burst out laughing). So, I think we're safe with going with the 1940s, at least. A good place to stop. 

If you find any other references, please let me know in the comments. Maybe we can push that date back even further into the past?

It's an anachronistic High Renaissance crack up!
Four Laughing People by Bartolomeo Veneto (c. 1510-30) 

**** A tip o' the hat to author Camille Minichino who suggested this Slang-o-rama phrase!****

Image by b0red from Pixabay

Wednesday's Random Slang-o-rama: 1940s slang (by guest author Camille Minichino)

Please welcome good buddy and guest Slang-o-rama blogger, Camille Minichino. Camille is the author of 28 mystery novels in 5 series, plus many short stories and articles. All her names, blogs, and publications can be found at www.minichino.com. Her latest, “Murphy’s Slaw” is available here.

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Over the years, a coffee order went from a cuppa mud (1940) to a venti, decaf iced, sugar-free, vanilla latte with soy milk or a grande, quad, nonfat, one-pump, no-whip, mocha (yesterday).

How did this come about? Sorry, that’s above my pay grade.

Oops, an inadvertent segue into a phrase that has its origin in the military, when each rank had a certain pay. Above each pay grade, solutions were someone else’s problem.

Here are other words and phrases that date to the forties or thereabouts.

• beef, as in “I have a beef with you.” Goes back to the Old West and arguments over grazing land for cows. 
• hold a candle to, as in “His writing can’t hold a candle to Ann Parker’s.” Stems from a time when an apprentice was expected to hold the candle so a more experienced worker would be able to see what she was doing.
• gobbledygook: Origin: The New York Times, May 21, 1944. How’s that for on the nose*? A Texas lawyer/congressman coined the word to indicate the obscure language being used by his colleagues, imitating the gobble of a turkey.
• on the nose: From the early days of radio broadcasting. The theory is that it came from the engineer in the control room who would place a finger on his nose as a signal that the program was running on schedule.
• through the wringer: Give someone a hard time, from the old washing machine part. Would my eleven-year-old grandniece know what this is?

Since I don’t want to stiff you (from 1939 restaurant workers, because dead people pay no tips!), I’m including a long list of 1940s slang, lingo, and phrases.

How about phrases that originated in the 21st century? Many abbreviations!

FAQ: 1982 (earliest year of use, not total Scrabble points)

Who has time for a 3-word phrase, or a 4-syllable word? So we have:

• convo for conversation (an application (applo?) of the older demo and info).
• retweet: Not just for Twitter anymore. It stands for I agree with you.
• boomer: Originally those born between 1946 and 1964, but now used for “old,” like geezer (not cool, in dis-guise (geez)).

What? You haven’t had enough? NP. Here are 110 texting acronyms. Imagine—we now have 109 more acronyms than in the days when ASAP ruled the roost (self-explanatory).

TY to Ann for sharing her blog space. TTYL.