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From The Weekend Wall Street Journal
A ‘Salty’ Word With a Promising Future
The American Dialect Society picks its Most Likely to Succeed word
Jan. 16, 2015
Last week, the American Dialect Society held its 25th Word of the Year proceedings at its annual conference in Portland, Ore. As chairman of the New Words committee, I presided over the vote.
‘Salty’ is defined as ‘exceptionally bitter, angry, or upset.’
The lion’s share of attention went to a new category: Most Notable Hashtag, for words and phrases preceded by a hash mark (#) to organize conversation on Twitter and elsewhere. The winner of the hashtag category, #blacklivesmatter, went on to win the overall vote as well (though many would quibble that it’s really three words smashed together).
But just as intriguing was the winner in the Most Likely to Succeed category: “salty,” defined as “exceptionally bitter, angry, or upset.” “Salty” is a great example of how slang can be cyclical: The “new” meaning of the word actually stretches back eight decades in African-American usage, but it has been revived for a millennial audience.
But African-American newspapers of the 1930s document the emergence of a novel twist on the word, particularly in the expression “jump salty,” meaning “to become suddenly angry.” In the sports section of the July 18, 1935, issue of the Philadelphia Tribune, one writer used hepcat slang to describe events unfolding in Europe: “Now as far as France and Italy were concerned, Hitler was jumping salty, spreading that jive.”
In a 1955 recording, the hip-talking performer Richard “Lord” Buckley described the Boston Tea Party as occurring after colonial rebels, angered at taxation, “jumped salty all over the place.” Tom Dalzell notes in his book “Flappers 2 Rappers: American Youth Slang” that Buckley influenced radio DJs, who in turn introduced “jump salty” to teenagers in the 1960s.
“Salty” persisted as urban slang in cities like Philadelphia, where its meaning continued to evolve. As 15-year-old Nisha Michelle explained to the Philadelphia Inquirerlast year, getting “salty” can suggest annoyance at being embarrassed over a mistake: “You thought you were right, but you’re wrong.”
At the Word of the Year vote, “salty” was nominated by Pearl Shavzin, an adjunct lecturer in anthropology at Hunter College, who has been tracking its usage in recent years. She noticed its rise in the fighting game community (FGC), a racially diverse subculture of videogaming.
In online forums like Reddit, where the FGC has an active presence, “salty” began crossing over into wider usage, Ms. Shavzin observed. Often, it appears as a term to mock someone’s frustration in coming up short competitively, not just in a videogame.
Recently, Twitter users threw “salty” around after Ohio State won college football’s national championship game over Oregon, leading to some schadenfreude over the saltiness of the Oregon faithful. “Oregon fans are more salty than the roads in the winter,” read one tweet from Ohio.
“Salty” also handily illustrates the winner in the Most Creative category in the Word of the Year vote: “columbusing,” a term popularized by a College Humor video to describe white people “discovering” things already known to minority cultures. As “salty” gets “columbused,” this sturdy bit of African-American slang will likely continue working its way into mainstream acceptance. Just take its apparent novelty with a grain of salt.
A ‘Salty’ Word With a Promising Future
The American Dialect Society picks its Most Likely to Succeed word
Jan. 16, 2015
Last week, the American Dialect Society held its 25th Word of the Year proceedings at its annual conference in Portland, Ore. As chairman of the New Words committee, I presided over the vote.
‘Salty’ is defined as ‘exceptionally bitter, angry, or upset.’
The lion’s share of attention went to a new category: Most Notable Hashtag, for words and phrases preceded by a hash mark (#) to organize conversation on Twitter and elsewhere. The winner of the hashtag category, #blacklivesmatter, went on to win the overall vote as well (though many would quibble that it’s really three words smashed together).
But just as intriguing was the winner in the Most Likely to Succeed category: “salty,” defined as “exceptionally bitter, angry, or upset.” “Salty” is a great example of how slang can be cyclical: The “new” meaning of the word actually stretches back eight decades in African-American usage, but it has been revived for a millennial audience.
But African-American newspapers of the 1930s document the emergence of a novel twist on the word, particularly in the expression “jump salty,” meaning “to become suddenly angry.” In the sports section of the July 18, 1935, issue of the Philadelphia Tribune, one writer used hepcat slang to describe events unfolding in Europe: “Now as far as France and Italy were concerned, Hitler was jumping salty, spreading that jive.”
In a 1955 recording, the hip-talking performer Richard “Lord” Buckley described the Boston Tea Party as occurring after colonial rebels, angered at taxation, “jumped salty all over the place.” Tom Dalzell notes in his book “Flappers 2 Rappers: American Youth Slang” that Buckley influenced radio DJs, who in turn introduced “jump salty” to teenagers in the 1960s.
“Salty” persisted as urban slang in cities like Philadelphia, where its meaning continued to evolve. As 15-year-old Nisha Michelle explained to the Philadelphia Inquirerlast year, getting “salty” can suggest annoyance at being embarrassed over a mistake: “You thought you were right, but you’re wrong.”
At the Word of the Year vote, “salty” was nominated by Pearl Shavzin, an adjunct lecturer in anthropology at Hunter College, who has been tracking its usage in recent years. She noticed its rise in the fighting game community (FGC), a racially diverse subculture of videogaming.
In online forums like Reddit, where the FGC has an active presence, “salty” began crossing over into wider usage, Ms. Shavzin observed. Often, it appears as a term to mock someone’s frustration in coming up short competitively, not just in a videogame.
Recently, Twitter users threw “salty” around after Ohio State won college football’s national championship game over Oregon, leading to some schadenfreude over the saltiness of the Oregon faithful. “Oregon fans are more salty than the roads in the winter,” read one tweet from Ohio.
“Salty” also handily illustrates the winner in the Most Creative category in the Word of the Year vote: “columbusing,” a term popularized by a College Humor video to describe white people “discovering” things already known to minority cultures. As “salty” gets “columbused,” this sturdy bit of African-American slang will likely continue working its way into mainstream acceptance. Just take its apparent novelty with a grain of salt.