Once they would not have had to dabble in such loose talk. But yesterday the scholars of the Oxford English Dictionary appealed for public help to find out who first gave the English language phrases such as "No more Mr Nice Guy" and "I could murder a curry".
Oxford University Press also needs a fairly urgent hand in nailing seven other modern words and phrases, including Murphy's law and mushy peas.
The lexicographers are ranging through M, N and O in their new revision of the 20-volume OED for theprint version and the international website. They already have many helpers: two dozen full-time readers of books, papers and magazines; 150 unpaid "principal" members of the public; and thousands of others who send in the occasional jewel.
But these helpers are not always versed in popular culture. The dictionary founder, Sir James Murray, did not have to worry about rude slang 143 years ago. Today it is an embarrassment that the OED has no provable usage for "off one's tits" earlier than John Birmingham's 1994 Australian student novel He Died With a Felafel in His Hand.
Stale peas mashed into paste were in the diet of the poor for centuries before reaching modern chip shops. Yet the best the helpers can offer is Guardian Weekly's 1981 mention: "Mushy peas would have been the sailors' victory feast."
If the helpers are to be believed, Punch coined another phrase in 1986 when a contributor wrote: "I could murder a plate of ham and eggs." Edmund Viner, OED deputy editor, wants to hear of earlier usages - especially references to murdering curry and pints.
He thinks the helpers may be on safer ground in dating No more Mr Nice Guy to a 1973 song title by the rock singer Alice Cooper.
Murphy's law is usually credited to Captain Edward Murphy, who in a 1945 US air force study on deceleration wrote: "I noted that, if things could be done wrongly, they would be."
However, the veteran US astronaut John Glenn is said to trace it to a fictional character in a US navy wartime educational cartoon series, but no one has yet sent Mr Viner a reference authenticating this.
Other terms on which the OED would like help are monopolising as an adjective (earliest reference 1891), mop bucket (1941), musical statues (1955) and smart casual (1982).
Information to oed3@oup.co.uk or the OED at Walton Street, Oxford OX2 6DP.
