Your Ancestors' Birth Year Words

What are your ancestors’ birth year words?

Have you ever wondered how recent the language is that you use everyday?

What new word was added to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) the year you were born?

Today’s post is a bit of fun (while I’m still catching up after Rootstech with clients, new colleagues (hi Katherine Willson! readers of this blog already know about her fabulous Facebook genealogy list), email, and research results from the Family History Library, plus life outside genealogy with fascinating things like laundry and taxes.

Now you can find out you and your ancestors’ birth year words – words that were “born” or entered the lexicon the same year you or your ancestors were born, courtesy of the seminal research work, the Oxford English Dictionary (OED). For subscribers, they provide a blog with an online search tool delivering examples by month and year for birth year words. Their more traditional role of providing access to the first known date for which a word was used is also on offer. Indy100independent in the UK has compiled a list by year here.

Above are examples from the starting year of 1900 for your ancestors’ birth year words. Below are some of the words for my generation. I’ll just say that my husband and I were happy to land somewhere between “blast-off” and “nowheresville.”