What words first appeared in print in the year you were born?

[Dilbertian]

https://www.merriam-webster.com/time-traveler/

Curious to see the era of my birth so clearly reflected in the language. Among the first words listed are acidhead, Afrocentric and babywipe. Yup, I was born in the 60s!

Even more curious are words that were recent additions to the dictionary (so must have been commonly used) yet are already obsolete:

computernik: a computer enthusiast or expert

Anxiety disorder
Bad hair day
Love handles

Yep

Baby boomer, Catch 22, neuroscience, snarf, thwart, yay.

1963 😀

Acid precipitation, microwave oven, artificial intelligence, booster seat, blister pack and juicehead. 1955 - and yes this is a really good thread.

Are some of you only 5? I swear some of these words are brand new

Hydrochlorofluorocarbon.

Also whizzy.

Email
First world problem
Babymoon 🤢
Gender expression 🙄

"Adjustable rate mortgage"

Exciting stuff

Bubblegum and windsurfing, which I can maybe understand. I'm surprised Cavalier King Charles Spaniels are a new thing in 1969. And videocassette recorder-surprised it's that old! I can't remember anybody I knew having one before the early 80s but I didn't move in rich circles.

@LittleBlackCat22

Are some of you only 5? I swear some of these words are brand new

Try entering your grandparents' birth years!

How absolutely fascinating! I was looking at my teenage to adult years. Hand gel arrived in 1990!

'72 here... picked a few favourites out:
Blaxploitation
Blended family
Bipolar disorder
animatronic
anti-sodomy
air hockey I'm an air hockey master, if I may say so myself
tamoxifen
phreak!!! Get your phreak on!

@Dilbertian my grandparents were born in 45 so all war related words!

@Councilworker

High five and air guitar are amongst mine. Among with killing field, yuppie, gridlock and NIMBY.

Me too!!

I was born in the year that AIDS and text messaging were first mentioned.

ADHD, gender-nonconforming, GIF - says a lot about my generation really

Also a few that seem oddly reminiscent of 2020/2021 - contact trace, patient zero, bioterrorism - think this was the year of the BSE outbreak? 1987.

Some choice ones from my year of birth -

Aviophobia
Cyclosporine
Gigaflop
Micromanage
Noncomidogenic
Nootropic
Synth
Voxel
White Zinfandel

1976

@Reachersloveinterest you must be my age

Thwart was a new word in 1963????

It was in Brideshead Revisited!

Gonna look for my year (1964) in a minute but I remember reading that the word "grotty" was coined by the screenwriter of A Hard Day's Night and George Harrison felt really embarrassed saying it.

Favourite from my year is Blow Dry

Yeah!! Grotty is on the list for 1964!

Mind you so is "Crown of Thorns" which is a phrase I believe was actually invented in 33 AD.

Adult-onset obesity, gender bender, narcissistic personality disorder, phallocratic, variable rate mortgage...

1975, what a year.

Yooper - "a native or resident of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan" apparently.

More UK-friendly, we have "electronic mail" and download - in 1975! - , air-kiss, and "creme anglaise", although I expect the French were using this before.

Crossposted with my fellow 1975er!

Woo-woo, taliban, and mancave

Plus (and these make me feel quite old since I don’t remember a pre-internet time) html and cyber.

(1992)

Jedi!! Awesome. 1983.