murielsayer
Rabbit Novice
Upon my introduction to the world of rabbithood, I quickly encountered the word "binky," used of course to describe everyone's favorite bunny-bounce of joy.
I thought to myself, then and ever after, "UGH. I hate this word. WHY IS IT USED?"
One, it's generally used to mean 'pacifier' (aka "paccie" in the USA, "dummy" in the UK) or as a term for a toddler's favorite blanket ("do you want your binky?") and I have always associated it with cutesy baby-talk (which I have loathed since I was, well, a baby).
But back to WHY. This morning, I decided to do a search on the etymology of "binky," and found this site:
http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/41469/etymology-of-binky-three-questions
Turns out, the earliest use of the term has been traced to the mid-nineties:
"Binky was coined by Dana Krempels (or her sister) in 1994 (or 1995) on the PetBunny mailing list (started in 1994 and still going strong). The term was included in Ken Albin's 'UNOFFICIAL PETBUNNY DICTIONARY', reposted on 12th July 1995:"
Albin says: "During that era a lot of us would simply make up words that somehow sounded like the actions our bunnies would make. I had 5 editions and would ask for new words each time. That is how most of the words originated on PB, from our strange imaginations rather than from rational derivations."
How "binky" made it to any top five list, much less to number *one,* is beyond me, but there you have it.
Some words of sanity from a piece about Matt Groening, linked to on the etymology page I have quoted from: "He called it "Life in Hell". The comic strip starred Binky, the lonely buck-toothed rabbit (In 1985, he told Los Angeles magazine that Binky was the "stupidest" name he could think of) and it soon became an underground success in L.A. Matt found himself making 500 copies instead of 20. In 1980, the strip started to appear in the Los Angeles Reader, a weekly paper where Matt worked as an editor/delivery man."
Oh, Matt. If only someone had read that LA Times article...
I thought to myself, then and ever after, "UGH. I hate this word. WHY IS IT USED?"
One, it's generally used to mean 'pacifier' (aka "paccie" in the USA, "dummy" in the UK) or as a term for a toddler's favorite blanket ("do you want your binky?") and I have always associated it with cutesy baby-talk (which I have loathed since I was, well, a baby).
But back to WHY. This morning, I decided to do a search on the etymology of "binky," and found this site:
http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/41469/etymology-of-binky-three-questions
Turns out, the earliest use of the term has been traced to the mid-nineties:
"Binky was coined by Dana Krempels (or her sister) in 1994 (or 1995) on the PetBunny mailing list (started in 1994 and still going strong). The term was included in Ken Albin's 'UNOFFICIAL PETBUNNY DICTIONARY', reposted on 12th July 1995:"
Albin says: "During that era a lot of us would simply make up words that somehow sounded like the actions our bunnies would make. I had 5 editions and would ask for new words each time. That is how most of the words originated on PB, from our strange imaginations rather than from rational derivations."
How "binky" made it to any top five list, much less to number *one,* is beyond me, but there you have it.
Some words of sanity from a piece about Matt Groening, linked to on the etymology page I have quoted from: "He called it "Life in Hell". The comic strip starred Binky, the lonely buck-toothed rabbit (In 1985, he told Los Angeles magazine that Binky was the "stupidest" name he could think of) and it soon became an underground success in L.A. Matt found himself making 500 copies instead of 20. In 1980, the strip started to appear in the Los Angeles Reader, a weekly paper where Matt worked as an editor/delivery man."
Oh, Matt. If only someone had read that LA Times article...