Who was Gordon Bennett? And did anyone wear stiletto heels before 1959? The Oxford English Dictionary is asking the public to help to solve these and a host of other etymological mysteries.

The English language has 643,000 words, but the origins of some of our commonest phrases remain a matter of conjecture.

The dictionary’s editors think that they know which prat first caused a domestic after taking a bung, but they promise to perform a flip-flop if someone can prove that it is more than a shaggy dog tale.

In other words, they will revise the next edition of the OED if anyone can provide compelling and verifiable evidence of an alternative provenance of a word or phrase. Suggestions will be debated on the new series of Balderdash and Piffle, the BBC Two lexicology programme.

This year the OED editors are particularly keen to examine the secret sex life of suburban Britain. Dogging is tentatively defined as “the practice of watching people engage in sexual acts in a public space”. It was brought to wider attention by a 2003 article in The Times, which revealed that outdoor exhibitionism had become a blight on country parks. The term is believed to have originated with the police. When officers approached suspects, mostly at night, they said that they were “just walking the dog”.

The editors also want to find Britain’s first marital aid. They believe that the euphemism for sex toys was first published in the classified advertisements section of the Gazette published for the residents of Burnham-on-Sea, Somerset, in 1976.

People have been kinky since 1889, according to the OED, but the term then meant “eccentric”. It is believed to have been first employed with a sexual connotation by Colin MacInnes in his 1959 novel Absolute Beginners.

The source of an earlier appearances of a word or phrase can be a book, magazine, film script, fanzine or even unpublished papers, letters or a post-marked postcard, the Internet or a sound recording. The most important thing is that it can be dated.

Lost derivations

Domestic (Verifiable evidence required before 1963)

First cited for “household argument” from a magazine article translating British slang terms from Z Cars for bemused Australian viewers. But when did it first appear in the show and did the writers get it from the police themselves?

Gordon Bennett! (1967)

Gordon Bennett was a famous media magnate, sportsman, and playboy in the early 1900s. Earliest evidence as exclamation is 1967 from a script for Till Death Us Do Part, right

Stiletto (1959)

Abbreviation of stiletto heel first teetered into the OED in a New Statesman article from 1959 but editors believe that it must have appeared in an earlier fashion publication

Bung (1958)

Stuffed brown paper envelope containing cash usually delivered to football managers in a motorway car park, but were there no attempted bribes before 1958?

Prat (1968)

Original sense as a trick or prank dated back to 1000 AD. First use as a fool believed to date from 1968 Melvyn Bragg book

Loo (1940)

Did James Joyce invent the term in a pun about Waterloo? Is it from the French lieu or l’eau, or even bordalou, a portable commode fashionable with ladies in 18th-century France?

The full list

Man’s Best Friend

Dog and bone (first record 1961) The dog’s bollocks (1989) Mucky pup (1984) Shaggy dog story* (1946) Sick puppy (1984)

Put-downs and Insults

Plonker (1966) Prat* (1968) Tosser (1977) Wally (1969) Wazzock (1984)

Fashionistas

Flip-flop (1970) Hoodie (1990) Shell-suit (1989) Stiletto (1959) Trainer (1978)

Spend a Penny

Domestic (1963) Loo (1940) * Whoopsie (1973)

X-Rated

Dogging* (1993) Glamour model (1981)Kinky (1959) Marital aid (1976) Pole dance (1992) Wolf-whistle (1952)

One Sandwich Short

Bananas* (1968) Bonkers* (1957) Daft (or mad) as a brush* (1945) Derr brain / duh brain (1997) One sandwich short of a picnic (1993)

Who Were They?

Bloody Mary* (1956) Gordon Bennett* (1967) Jack the Lad (1981) Round robin (1988) To take the mickey* (1948)

Dodgy Dealings

Bung* (1958) Glasgow kiss (1987) Identity theft (1991) Spiv* (1934) Twoc (1990) Regime change (1990)

* Origin unknown or uncertain

Join the wordhunt by visiting www.bbc.co.uk/balderdash or email balderdash@bbc.co.uk

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