h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Today’s quiz is all about word sources. Each of the 15 words listed below was first recorded in the English language in one of the listed publications. You have to match the word to the publication, and also give the decade that you think the word first appeared (I’ll award points to whoever’s nearest).

So, if you think the word ’beautician’ was first recorded in the Anglo Saxon Chronicle in the 1060s (it wasn’t - take it from me), then you’d write 1a. 1060s, etc

So, over to you - post all 15 and I’ll score it later.

***

Words:

1. beautician
2. Blu-Tack
3. bum rap
4. car-jacking
5. comet
6. crowdsourcing
7. debug
8. fraudster
9. happy-clappy
10. happy slap
11. kilometre
12. safari
13. sext
14. slimmer
15. wannabe

Sources:

a) Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
b) Chicago Tribune
c) Country Life
d) Financial Times
e) Irish Times
f) Journal of the Royal Aeronautical Society
g) Journal of the Royal Geographical Society
h) Los Angeles Times
i) Naval Chronicle
j) New York Magazine
k) Sun (UK)
l) Sydney Morning Herald
m) Times Educational Supplement
n) Times of India
o) Wired

...and I need to add that 14. slimmer is the noun (someone who slims), not the comparative adjective.

Okay, a bunch of wild guesses:

1. beautician c) Country Life
2. Blu-Tack k) Sun (UK)
3. bum rap b) Chicago Tribune
4. car-jacking h) Los Angeles Times
5. comet g) Journal of the Royal Geographical Society
6. crowdsourcing o) Wired
7. debug m) Times Educational Supplement
8. fraudster d) Financial Times
9. happy-clappy n) Times of India
10. happy slap l) Sydney Morning Herald
11. kilometre i) Naval Chronicle
12. safari f) Journal of the Royal Aeronautical Society
13. sext - a) Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
14. slimmer e) Irish Times
15. wannabe j) New York Magazine

And I'm not really sure what Blu-Tack is. I think it is some weird form of UK adhesive, probably licenced by the government as an austerity measure to save paint.

Sext in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle made me laugh out loud, Dmitri

I should perhaps have mentioned that to sext in this context is to send explicit photos via your mobile phone.

Any gueses for decades for thoe words?

Aha. That's me being behind the curve. I was assuming that 'sext' was either a form of land division, or a rare kind of weapon I'd forgotten about, related to a hepti-saex. Which is probably now also a form of cybering, who knows?

'Beautician' is probably 1920s. 'Comet' is probably 18th Century. And crowdsourcing is 21st, I guess. I'll get back to you on the rest after I find an Anglo-Saxon word for 'send sexy photos'. I'm sure Lady Godiva went in for it with her husband Leofric.

Aha! Bosworth-Toller doesn't have 'sext', but *does* have 'bissextus', which means'the intercalary day of leap-year', aka, Sadie Hawkins Day.

http://www.bosworthtoller.com/finder/3/sext

I'm suspecting jokes about this will find their way into the Post...

I really hope so!

The other 'sext' word is one of the regime of prayers in the Christian Church: Lauds, Prime, Terce, Sext, None, Vespers and Compline (if my source is correct). Sext was performed at midday.

Right! If those mobile phone users had an app with the Hours in, they might not send so many of these 'sexts'.

Where is the Internet Office of the Holy See when you need them?

It occurs to me that this 'sext' word, though, is important - as it may have been at least partly responsible for the fall of the United States as a democracy.

There's this politician named Anthony Weiner, you see...pronounced 'wiener'...he's heavily into 'sexting'...the FBI was investigating...

This kind of puzzle should have been my cup of tea. The most I can do here is guess when the words first appeared in print.

I don't think crowdsourcing existed before 2001, so I'm guessing that it dates form the first decade of the 21st century, if not the second.

Likewise sext, in the modern selfie context.

Beautician has its roots in the french "beaute," which essentially means beauty in English. This particular word could go back quite a ways -- the 1950s, the 1940s, even earlier. My wild guess in the 1890s.

Car-jacking could not have exited without hijacking and skyjacking, the latter of which probably originated in the 1940s or 1950s, but began to be a serious problem in the 1970s. It may have taken awhile for the car-jacking problem to accelerate, so I'm guessing the 1990s.

There's a song"Cornet man" in the musical "Funny Girl," which means that even in the early 20th century the instrument was already a major player [pun not intended] on the music scene. I'm trying to remember whether the sackbut was a forerunner of the cornet. That would place the cornet's development somewhere in the early 17th century, but without looking in Google I can't guess a decade.

Debug probably would not exist without the advent of modern computers, ut it might have been around as earlier as the late 1970s. A wild guess.

Fraudster, I think, is a 21st Century invention, accompanying the bankster coinage of the 2008 subprimmmortgage fiasco.I give it the first decade of the 21st century.

I don't believe the kilometre existed ebfore the metric system was invented. Thomas Jefferso waso ne of the first enthusiasts for metrics, and he was president of the U.S in the first decade of the 19th century, so that's the decade [or,,perhaps, the decade preceding it] I'm assigning it to for its origin

Safari? Teddy Roosevelt and Ernest hemignway seemed to be big enthusiasts for that, and late 1920s brought the Marx Brothers to satiriz it in "Coconuts." I'm going to guess the 1890s or the firstdecade of the 20th Century for that.

I first heard "wannabe" in the 199-0s, so I'm guessing it would have originatedi n the 1980s.

1. beautician
m) Times Educational Supplement
1950s


2. Blu-Tack
f) Journal of the Royal Aeronautical Society
1960s

3. bum rap
h) Los Angeles Times
1980s


4. car-jacking
j) New York Magazine
1950´s


5. comet
a) Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
1450s


6. crowdsourcing
d) Financial Times
2000s


7. debug
o) Wired
1970s


8. fraudster
b) Chicago Tribune
1930s


9. happy-clappy
l) Sydney Morning Herald
1970s


10. happy slap
i) Naval Chronicle
1890s


11. kilometre
g) Journal of the Royal Geographical Society
1790s


12. safari
n) Times of India
c) Country Life
1920s


13. sext
k) Sun (UK)
2010s


14. slimmer
15. wannabe
e) Irish Times
1970s

Oops, forgot to move one. Here it is properly. Still no nearer the truth

1. beautician
m) Times Educational Supplement
1950s


2. Blu-Ta(c)k
f) Journal of the Royal Aeronautical Society
1960s

3. bum rap
h) Los Angeles Times
1980s


4. car-jacking
j) New York Magazine
1950´s


5. comet
a) Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
1450s


6. crowdsourcing
d) Financial Times
2000s


7. debug
o) Wired
1970s


8. fraudster
b) Chicago Tribune
1930s


9. happy-clappy
l) Sydney Morning Herald
1970s


10. happy slap
i) Naval Chronicle
1890s


11. kilometre
g) Journal of the Royal Geographical Society
1790s


12. safari
n) Times of India
1920s


13. sext
k) Sun (UK)
2010s


14. slimmer
c) Country Life
1960s

15. wannabe
e) Irish Times
1970s

Revised, and equally unreliable, wild guesses, with decades:

1. beautician c) Country Life - 1920s
2. Blu-Tack i) Naval Chronicle - no idea, 1950s?
3. bum rap b) Chicago Tribune - 1920s
4. car-jacking h) Los Angeles Times - 1980s
5. comet a) Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, 1066 - although I think they actually called it a 'long-haired star'
6. crowdsourcing o) Wired - 2000s
7. debug m) Times Educational Supplement - 1980s
8. fraudster d) Financial Times - 1960s
9. happy-clappy n) Times of India - 1940s
10. happy slap l) Sydney Morning Herald - 1940s
11. kilometre g) Journal of the Royal Geographical Society - around 1795, or Revolutionary Year 2
12. safari f) Journal of the Royal Aeronautical Society - 1900
13. sext - Sun (UK) - 2010s
14. slimmer e) Irish Times - 1960s
15. wannabe j) New York Magazine - 1990s

Dmitri's assumption about the meaning of 'sext' reminds me of an interesting Tolkien fact.

The elf-lady Galadriel had a husband called Celeborn, but in an earlier version of the story he was called Teleporno. I'd advise not googling that name.

1. beautician
o) Wired – 1960s

2. Blu-Tack
m) Times Educational Supplement – 1950s

3. bum rap
n) Times of India – 1970s

4. car-jacking
b) Chicago Tribune – 1950s

5. comet
a) Anglo-Saxon Chronicle – 98s

6. crowdsourcing
d) Financial Times – 2000s

7. debug
f) Journal of the Royal Aeronautical Society
(Mainly because 'Gremlins' was invented by the RAF) – 1930s

8. fraudster
e) Irish Times – 1980s

9. happy-clappy
h) Los Angeles Times – 1960s

10. happy slap
j) New York Magazine – 1970s

11. kilometre
i) Naval Chronicle – 1790s

12. safari
g) Journal of the Royal Geographical Society – 1850s

13. sext
k) Sun (UK) – 2010s

14. slimmer
c) Country Life – 1890s

15. wannabe
l) Sydney Morning Herald – 1970s

<BB< <- Expecting another

Whilst we're all still guessing, can someone enlighten me as to what exactly a "bum rap" and a "happy slap" are. After the watershed, if necessary.

I'm glad everyone else is also putting the kilometre in the 1790s, that was entirely a guess on my part, albeit a little educated.

I didn't pay much attention to who had said what, I just knew the kilometre must have dated from the French Republic before Napoleon, when they were doing daft things like introducing decimal calendars.

<BB<

A bum rap is a false charge or conviction.

A happy slap is (I quote) "An instance of slapping, punching, or otherwise assaulting a person while being filmed, typically on a mobile phone, the resulting video then being sent or shown to others, or posted on the Internet."

And no, it's not mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle

Doesn't sound a very happy thing to me.