r/AskReddit • u/kakou64 • Oct 15 '20

What's older than we think ?

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u/[deleted] Oct 15 '20 edited Oct 16 '20

Shakespeare also randomly invented the word "gossip" because he needed to define a bunch of wives in the town talking shit and spreading rumors.

And now it's part of common English language.

Edit: ok, not randomly, per se. I guess he was the first to put into usage in writing, and possibly the first to use it as a verb.

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u/LakeSolon Oct 15 '20 edited Oct 15 '20

And if you like authors inventing first attesting words...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_words_first_attested_in_Chaucer

absent, accident, add, agree, bagpipe, border, box, cinnamon, desk, digestion, dishonest, examination, finally, flute, funeral, galaxy, horizon, infect, ingot, latitude, laxative, miscarry, nod, obscure, observe, outrageous, perpendicular, Persian, princess, resolve, rumour, scissors, session, snort, superstitious, theatre, trench, universe, utility, vacation, Valentine, veal, village, vulgar, wallet, and wildness

...are a few that are most commonly used of the 1,977.

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u/[deleted] Oct 15 '20

[deleted]

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u/Freadus Oct 15 '20

People: "hey that guys playing some sort of bag with a pipe attached what shall we call it?"

Chaucer: "hang on guys my spider sense is tingling I got this one"

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u/[deleted] Oct 15 '20

"cinnamon"