Wordhunt was a national appeal run by the Oxford English Dictionary

Oxford English Dictionary

The Oxford English Dictionary , published by the Oxford University Press, is the self-styled premier dictionary of the English language. Two fully bound print editions of the OED have been published under its current name, in 1928 and 1989. The first edition was published in twelve volumes , and...

, looking for earlier evidence of the use of 50 words and phrases in the English language

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

. New evidence found by members of the public in response to the appeal appears in the Oxford English Dictionary. The appeal is a companion to the BBC2 television series Balderdash & Piffle.

First Wordhunt

The first Wordhunt was launched in 2005 by the Oxford English Dictionary and the BBC and resulted in the OED updating the entries of 34 words and phrases, featured in the first series of Balderdash & Piffle broadcast in early 2006.

The 50 words and phrases were:

• balti
  Balti (food)
  A Balti is a British-style type of curry cooked and served up in a thin, pressed steel wok-like pan. It is served in many restaurants in the United Kingdom...
  
  
• Beeb
  BBC
  The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
  
  
• bog standard
• bonk
• bouncy castle
• boffin
  Boffin
  In the slang of the United Kingdom, boffins are scientists, medical doctors, engineers, and other people engaged in technical or scientific research.-Origin:...
  
  
• bomber jacket
• Crimble
  Crimble
  Crimble or Krimble is a slang term for Christmas coined by The Beatles as part of their 1964 Christmas record issued via the Beatles Fan Club. It is believed to have been coined by John Lennon given his penchant for wordplay. The term has come into general use among Liverpudlians, though use has...
  
  
• chattering classes
  Chattering classes
  The chattering classes is a generally derogatory term first coined by Auberon Waugh often used by pundits and political commentators to refer to a politically active, socially concerned and highly educated section of the "metropolitan middle class," especially those with political, media, and...
  
  
• codswallop
• cyberspace
  Cyberspace
  Cyberspace is the electronic medium of computer networks, in which online communication takes place.The term "cyberspace" was first used by the cyberpunk science fiction author William Gibson, though the concept was described somewhat earlier, for example in the Vernor Vinge short story "True...
  
  
• cyborg
  Cyborg
  A cyborg is a being with both biological and artificial parts. The term was coined in 1960 when Manfred Clynes and Nathan S. Kline used it in an article about the advantages of self-regulating human-machine systems in outer space. D. S...
  
  
• ditsy
• dosh
  Dosh
  Martin Luther King Chavez Dosh , known in music as Dosh, is a musician and multi-instrumentalist based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. As an artist, Dosh is a percussionist uses various electronics, often with a Fender Rhodes...
  
  
• full monty
• gas mark
  Gas Mark
  The Gas Mark is a temperature scale used on gas ovens and cookers in the United Kingdom, Ireland and some Commonwealth of Nations countries. It is the most common temperature scale on new gas ovens sold in the UK; very few models are labelled in degrees Celsius or Fahrenheit.- History :The draft...
  
  
• gay
  Gay
  Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
  
  
• handbags at dawn
• her indoors
• jaffa
  Jaffa
  Jaffa is an ancient port city believed to be one of the oldest in the world. Jaffa was incorporated with Tel Aviv creating the city of Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel. Jaffa is famous for its association with the biblical story of the prophet Jonah.-Etymology:...
  
  
• Mackem
  Mackem
  Mackem is a term that refers to the accent, dialect and people of the Wearside area, or more specifically Sunderland, a city in North East England. Spelling variations include "Mak'em", "Makem", and "Maccam".- Origin :...
  
  
• made-up
• minger
• minted
• moony
  Moony
  Moony is a musician from Italy, best known for being the vocalist on DB Boulevard's hit single "Point Of View", as well as her own single "Dove "....
  
  
• mullered
• mullet
• mushy peas
  Mushy peas
  Mushy peas are dried marrowfat peas which are first soaked overnight in water and then simmered with a little sugar and salt until they form a thick green lumpy soup. They are a traditional British accompaniment to fish and chips and sometimes mint is used as a flavouring...
  
  
• naff
• nerd
  Nerd
  Nerd is a derogatory slang term for an intelligent but socially awkward and obsessive person who spends time on unpopular or obscure pursuits, to the exclusion of more mainstream activities. Nerds are considered to be awkward, shy, and unattractive...
  
  
• nip and tuck
  Nip and Tuck
  Nip and Tuck may refer to:*Nip and Tuck, former name of Artemus, Kentucky*Nip/Tuck, TV series...
  
  
• nit nurse
• nutmeg
  Nutmeg
  The nutmeg tree is any of several species of trees in genus Myristica. The most important commercial species is Myristica fragrans, an evergreen tree indigenous to the Banda Islands in the Moluccas of Indonesia...
  
  
• Old Bill
• on the pull
• pass the parcel
  Pass the parcel
  Pass the parcel is a popular British children's party game in which a parcel is passed from person to person around a circle, somewhat similar in its logistics to musical chairs....
  
  
• pear-shaped
• phwoar
• pick 'n' mix
  Pick 'n' mix
  Pick 'n' mix is a common method used to sell various small items. It is most often used to sell confectionery, whereby small sweets are displayed in tubs or bins...
  
  
• ploughman's lunch
  Ploughman's lunch
  A ploughman's lunch is a cold snack or meal originating in the United Kingdom, served in pubs, sometimes eaten in a sandwich form, composed of cheese ; often cooked ham slices, pickle , apples, pickled onions, salad leaves, bread...
  
  
• pop one's clogs
• porky
• posh
• square one (back to...)
• ska
  Ska
  Ska |Jamaican]] ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s, and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. Ska combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues...
  
  
• smart casual
  Smart casual
  Smart casual is a loosely defined dress code, casual, yet "smart" enough to conform to the particular standards of certain Western social groups....
  
  
• snazzy
• something for the weekend
• to throw one's toys out of the pram
• tikka masala

Second Wordhunt

The second Wordhunt was launched in January 2007, and the results featured in a second series of Balderdash & Piffle, which was broadcast in Spring 2007.

The forty words and phrases, divided into six themes, are:

Man's Best Friend

• dog and bone (1961)
• the dog's bollocks (1989)
• mucky pup
  Mucky Pup
  Mucky Pup began as an American hardcore and crossover thrash band formed in Bergenfield, New Jersey in 1985, when brothers John and Chris Milnes joined up with Dan Nastasi and former Hades member, Scott LePage . The band went through various incarnations and several musical style changes while...
  
   (1984)
• shaggy dog story (1946) *
• sick puppy
  Sick Puppy
  Sick Puppy is a novel by Carl Hiaasen.-Plot summary:Florida's corrupt governor, Dick Artemus, pursues schemes to line his pockets and those of his rich entrepreneur backers at the expense of the environment. His schemes have always foundered in the past, but he has high hopes of a plan involving...
  
   (1984)

Put Downs and Insults

• plonker (1966)
• prat (1968) *
• tosser (1977)
• wally (1969)
• wazzock (1984)

Spend a Penny

• domestic (1963)
• glamour model (1981)
• loo (1940) *
• regime change
  Regime change
  "Regime change" is the replacement of one regime with another. Use of the term dates to at least 1925.Regime change can occur through conquest by a foreign power, revolution, coup d'état or reconstruction following the failure of a state...
  
   (1990)
• whoopsie (1973)

Fashionistas

Fashion victim

Fashion victim is a term claimed to have been coined by Oscar de la Renta that is used to identify a person who is unable to identify commonly recognized boundaries of style....

• flip-flop
  Flip-flop (disambiguation)
  Flip-flops are a simple type of footwear in which there is a band between the big toe and the other toes.Flip-flop may also refer to:* Flip-flop , the bistable multivibrator, a circuit with two stable states...
  
   (1970)
• hoodie
  Hoodie
  A hoodie is a sweatshirt with a hood. The characteristic design includes large frontal pockets, a hood, and a drawstring to adjust the hood opening. They are sometimes worn with sweatpants. Some hoodies have zippers on them to allow easy removal much like a jacket...
  
   (1990)
• shell-suit  (1989)
• stiletto
  Stiletto
  A stiletto is a knife or dagger with a long slender blade and needle-like point, intended primarily as a stabbing weapon. The stiletto blade's narrow cross-section and acuminated tip reduces friction upon entry, allowing the blade to penetrate deeply...
  
   (1959)
• trainer (1978)

X Rated

• dogging
  Dogging (sexual slang)
  Dogging is a British English euphemism for engaging in sexual acts in a public or semi-public place or watching others doing so. There may be more than two participants; both group sex and gang banging can be included. As observation is encouraged, voyeurism and exhibitionism are closely associated...
  
   (1993) *
• kink
  Kink (sexual)
  In human sexuality, kinkiness and kinky are terms used to refer to a playful usage of sexual concepts in an accentuated, and unambiguously expressive form....
  
  y (1959)
• marital aid (1976)
• pole dance
  Pole dance
  Pole dance is a form of performing art, a combination of dance and gymnastics. It involves dancing and performing acrobatic tricks with a vertical pole and is an increasingly popular form of fitness and dance, practised by many enthusiasts in gyms or dedicated dance studios...
  
   (1992)
• wolf-whistle (1952)

One Sandwich Short

• banana
  Banana
  Banana is the common name for herbaceous plants of the genus Musa and for the fruit they produce. Bananas come in a variety of sizes and colors when ripe, including yellow, purple, and red....
  
  s (1968) *
• bonkers (1957) *
• daft (or mad) as a brush (1945) *
• duh brain (1997)
• one sandwich short of a picnic (1993)

Who Were They?

• Bloody Mary (1956) *
• Gordon Bennett (1967) *
• Jack the Lad
  Jack The Lad
  Jack the Lad was a folk rock or electric folk group from North East England formed in 1973 by three former members of the most successful band of the period from the region Lindisfarne. They moved from the progressive folk rock of Lindisfarne into much more traditional territory and were in the...
  
   (1981)
• round robin (1988)
• take the mickey (1948) *

Dodgy Dealings

• bung
  Bung
  A bung is truncated cylindrical or conical closure to seal a container, such as a bottle, tube or barrel. Unlike a lid which encloses a container from the outside without displacing the inner volume, a bung is partially inserted inside the container to act as a seal...
  
   (1958) *
• Glasgow kiss (1987)
• identity theft
  Identity theft
  Identity theft is a form of stealing another person's identity in which someone pretends to be someone else by assuming that person's identity, typically in order to access resources or obtain credit and other benefits in that person's name...
  
   (1991)
• spiv
  Spiv
  In the United Kingdom, a spiv is a particular type of petty criminal, who deals in stolen or black market goods of questionable authenticity, especially a slickly-dressed man offering goods at bargain prices...
  
   (1934) *
• twoc
  TWOC
  TWOC is an acronym standing for Taking Without Owner's Consent. Synonyms used by police in the UK include UTMV: Unlawful Taking of a Motor Vehicle, and TADA or TDA: Taking and Driving Away...
  
   (1990)

External links

• Series 1 from the OED
• Wordhunt from the OED
• Balderdash & Piffle from the BBC
  BBC
  The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...