Complex Numbers

Word Origins

Behold, an article related to writing. From Cracked:

    Everyday Words And Phrases That Were Invented Onscreen  

Writing is inventing, and many everyday words and phrases have come from the magnificent and maddening minds of screenwriters.

And from me, though I haven't managed to convince anyone else of that.

Someone yells “Derp!” and we immediately think BASEketball.

...No. Never saw it.

A person says “red pill” and up pops The Matrix in our noggins as we try not to spontaneously combust.

And there I immediately dismiss anything the person has to say. Not because of The Matrix, but because it's been appropriated by asshats.

Come to think of it, I wonder who came up with "asshat?"

Turns out it's not all that clear  , but the Coen brothers seem to have had a hand in it, or at least a finger, so that's okay.

Now, as usual, this is a countdown list, with 12 items. I'm not going to comment on all of them.

11. ”Catfish”

The 2010 documentary, Catfish, was the first to coin the term describing a person who scams someone by using a fake identity.

Huh. Seems to me it was older than that. Maybe that was just the practice, which is indeed much older than that.

10. ”Gunslinger”

It turns out that no one called those supposed gun-loving sharpshooters of the Wild West “gunslingers.” The term was coined in the 1920 Western movie Drag Harlan, and has become a staple term ever since.

Quick, someone alert Stephen King. Also, don't bother with the movie.

7. ”Google”

Thank Buffy the Vampire Slayer for being so tech savvy and turning “google” into a verb. The moment happened in the 2002 episode, “Selfless,” in which Willow asks Buffy: “Have you googled her yet?”

Almost every company wants their brand name to become generic. Like Kleenex or Band-Aid, or Coke. Unless, of course, it's pernicious, in which case, lawyers get involved.

5. ”Nimrod”

Another word that was already in existence — its original definition means “skilled hunter” — but was changed in meaning thanks to Daffy Duck from Looney Tunes fame who used it to insult hunter Elmer Fudd, implying that Fudd's “a buffoon.”

This one, I knew. Nimrod is from the Bible. I like Looney Tunes' take on it better.

3. ”Friend Zone”

Written as part of Joey Tribbiani’s dialogue in “The Blackout” episode of Friends, the phrase took a while to catch on and, perhaps, would've been lost in the ether … if it weren’t for every second online publication writing a puff piece about the dreaded and, let’s face it, entitled concept of being “friend zoned.”

Pretty sure I remember that from before, too. But I could be wrong. Also, I never saw a single episode of Friends; it was on during the time I swore off (and at) television.

There's lots more at the link. Words have power, and if you can come up with one that sticks, well, that's really fetch.