What the hell is wrong with the word "crisp?"

[cyclonefence]

Crispy, crispy, crispy.

What are we, a nation of four-year-olds?

And PS: there's no such word as "snuck." So stop saying it. Goddam it.

[Arthur_Frain]

1. Jesus

I just woke up. Context would help, the fuck is wrong with crisp?

[TheBlackAdder]

59. OMG! Those woody and tinny words.

[3catwoman3]

2. Who says there's something wrong with it?

This is news to me.

[TwilightZone]

3. "There's no such word as snuck". And, you would be wrong.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/snuck

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/snuck

https://www.dictionary.com/browse/snuck

https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/snuck

https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/us/definition/english/snuck

[MineralMan]

44. Exactly. Snuck is fine.

[cyclonefence]

49. I'm not talking about definitions

I'm talking about conjugations.

Sneak, sneaked, sneaked.

Not sneak, snack, snuck.

[-misanthroptimist]

134. Well, ain't that something?

[Emile]

4. What are you talking about?

[Srkdqltr]

5. Yes snuck is a word. It is in general usage.

BTW. What are you talking about?

[cyclonefence]

31. "snuck" has replaced "sneaked"

"shrunk" (in some context, like 'Honey I Shrunk the Kids') has replaced "shrank"
"crispy" has replaced "crisp"
"vers" has replaced "versus"

etc etc etc

I do not object or care when people speak or write informally--I do it and enjoy doing it--but proper usage is disappearing from our language, and it ought to be preserved somewhere, somehow. In even the most formal writing, I have come across "snuck." And I weep.

I object to the fact that dialectical, informal usage is becoming--has become--pretty much formalized.

I want an American Academie Francaise, is what I want. And I'll be in charge. And penalties will be fierce.

And never begin a sentence with "and."

[Jerry2144]

32. "What did you bring me the book that I do not to be read to out of up for?"

May not be standard English, but it gets the point across.

I'm old enough now to not worry some much about right and wrong in the way people speak/write. I worry more about can I understand. Only things that still bother me are misue use of: there/their/they're, your/you're, to/too/two, and similar easy homophones

[whathehell]

109. Really?

"It may not be standard English, but it gets the point across".

I'm not sure about that one..It gets no points across to me..It's entirely indeciferable.

[Jerry2144]

111. Punchline about a child complaining to his father

About the bedtime story his father brought upstairs

[Hekate]

46. One more thing: irregular verbs have disappeared from the newspaper

Annoying as hell— gives me a mental stutter when I read.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

54. Wrong. Verbs are being regularized in the age of telecommunications

"Sneaked" is replacing "snuck", but before that "snuck" replaced "sneaked" in the US. "Sneaked" remains the usage in the UK. Canada tends to "snuck". (Canadian English is a mixture of US and UK where they differ.)

Verbs are becoming regularized these days because of the effect of English-as-an-alternate-language speakers/writers. Because of telecommunications, lots of people are writing on the internet (and before) with English not their first language. When in doubt about a verb it is a good bet to use regularized conjugations because it is A) likely to be right, B) simpler.

Sneak had the past tense form sneaked when it first appeared in the late 1500s, but about 300 years later, in the late 1800s, the form snuck started showing up in the United States. To appreciate how odd this is we should recap the two basic English verb categories. Those that take the familiar -ed for their past tense and past-participle forms – for example, play: They played chess yesterday and They have played daily for years – are called "regular" verbs. They follow the rules and constitute the great majority of English verbs. The other not-so-predictable verbs are "irregular." They follow long-abandoned logic and confuse anyone who pays attention to them: am becomes was becomes been??

https://www.merriam-webster.com/grammar/snuck-or-sneaked-which-is-correct

[cyclonefence]

63. Perhaps so

but dictionaries are not guides to usage. Dictionaries define words so other people know what the hell you're talking about when you say "snuck" instead of "sneaked."

My OED does not contain the word "snuck." I am surprised to learn from you that the form existed in the US in the 19th C. Unfortunately the Dictionary of American Slang did not print a volume containing S words, or I'd be able to cite you an example, if such an example exists.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

65. Dictionaries ARE guides. Proscribing & prescribing usage is as useless as telling tRump to stop being crude

Dictionaries only describe. Further, my OED is probably same as your OED and "sneaked" is not defined in it either.

Are you British? Americans should always use the British / UK form?

[cyclonefence]

69. Hinton WV

A long way from Albion.

The OED contains "sneak," of course, but it isn't a guide to verb forms, either. I think "snuck"--if it were in use--would have made an appearance if it had appeared in print in the 19th C in England simply because it is not standard usage and might have confused people.

[wnylib]

64. Oh my. You would have censored a lot of what Shakespeare wrote.

He used self-created words and new meanings for existing words in his plays. His new usages became standard English due to the popularity of his plays.

[Think. Again.]

107. Yes! His whole schtick was messing with how words are used....

...and it was great fun!

[cyclonefence]

130. I have not managed to convey my meaning

I do not object to *any* words or usage. I object to the fact that simple words like "crisp" are disappearing from our language. If you pay attention you won't *ever* hear "crisp" these days. Everything crisp is described as "crispy."

I repeat, what are we, a nation of four-year-olds?

Ditto for "veggies," btw.

[NotANeocon]

133. With a pint?

I wouldn't expect a person requesting a crisp or a package of crisps in a UK pub to be at the infantile end of the age scale!

[cyclonefence]

160. Forgot about those crisps

Over here in the US, we'd probably say "crispies." That's what I call infantile. We seem to want to avoid the adjective "crisp."

[wnylib]

135. Thou speakest verily. Language doth change.

[cyclonefence]

161. Sure do, don't it?

And I think that's fine. Let's just not lose some of the useful words we have.

[radius777]

136. 'Crispy' may've taken off due to Rice Krispies,

and other companies over the years marketing their products. 'Crispy' just sounds more appetizing and crispier than 'crisp'.

[Polly Hennessey]

102. I rather like beginning some of my sentences with And.

Don’t recall ever ending a sentence with and. Oh, wait, I just did. 😁

[Think. Again.]

108. And?

[jfz9580m]

145. Sometimes

When I read the net I can see why sitcoms have canned laughter ;-/…

[LeftInTX]

158. I learned: They shrank. They have shrunk.

[cyclonefence]

159. Yeah

Today I shrink the kids
Yesterday I shrank the kids
I have shrunk the kids many times

[Ocelot II]

6. Words evolve.

They become words because people use them. Snuck is an accepted past tense of sneak, and has been for more than 100 years. https://www.merriam-webster.com/grammar/snuck-or-sneaked-which-is-correct

[cyclonefence]

51. Conjugate "snuck" for me

I'm distressed because "snuck" has replaced the more proper "sneaked" in virtually every instance. I don't mind that people use these more casual forms of words; I mind that the strictly correct forms are disappearing, even from formal writing.

[Ocelot II]

68. It's irregularly irregular.

Both regular and irregular verbs date back to Old English, but over the centuries most verbs that had been irregular developed regular forms, eventually leaving only the most common of the irregular verbs – among them be, do, say, go, take, and get – with their quirky conjugations.

But sneak bucks the trend. Over the past 120-odd years snuck has become by some estimations the more common past tense form in the US. Some people object to the sneaky upstart – especially speakers of British English – but it appears regularly and without commentary in respected publications on both sides of the pond.

Perhaps the most mysterious part of the story of snuck is the question of where it came from. No common verb follows the precise pattern of snuck: the past tense of leak is not luck, of streak is not struck, of creak is not cruck, of peek is not puck. It's as if snuck just sidled on in and made itself at home in the language, and most of us took it for a native. Pretty sneaky.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/grammar/snuck-or-sneaked-which-is-correct

[LeftInTX]

75. I grew up with "snuck"

Born in 1956.

[calikid]

125. Ditto nt

[TwilightZone]

86. Just because you don't like it doesn't mean it's not appropriate usage.

And has been for a century.

[LeftInTX]

88. You can't. It's past tense of sneak

It's like trying to conjugate brought

[H2O Man]

93. You will be okay.

[Elessar Zappa]

118. But it IS correct usage.

You just don’t like the word. And the “correct’ way to talk changes very frequently and grammar books always catch up.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

62. Exactly. Language is as language does

Librarians, grammarians, and lexicographers can guide usage, but prescribing and proscribing language is as useless as whipping the sea.

I didn't see your post link until I posted mine.

[Ligyron]

7. Isn't "crisp" the new word for "cool"?

I know of kids using it as such anyway.

[liberalla]

104. Yes it is. It means awesome, cool, amazing, etc.

However, I'm curious what "crisp" word the OP is referring to, and where it was used. I mean, what is this thread about anyway?

[Ligyron]

150. IDK for sure but Liberalla is most definitely a crisp name.

[stumpysbear]

8. Wut?

[toesonthenose]

9. Not sure, but one thing I do know, the word MOIST seems to really trigger people lol.

[Marthe48]

13. My daughter worked with people who could not tolerate the word moist

I thought it was strange.

[toesonthenose]

20. My daughters literally scream if I say it. Strange indeed haha.

[Ferrets are Cool]

27. I love a moist cake.

[Marthe48]

29. The coworkers turned out to be mean girls

My daughter friended them on fb to be nice. When I heard how crappy they made the workplace, I started to describe everything I could using the word moist if I posted on her fb page.

My daughter took another job where the office environment was much more pleaseant and as they say, living well is the best revenge--she retired almost 2 years ago

[cyclonefence]

92. That's really funny

I knew a guy who couldn't tolerate "moist" or "seepage." Maybe a traumatic plumbing experience?

[Akacia]

50. It triggers me and I have no idea why.

[Polly Hennessey]

10. I snuck into my bedroom because I stayed out too late.

I love crispy chips.

[Mossfern]

83. or a crisp autumn afternoon.

Or is that the wrong "crisp?"
I guess if you're strolling through piles of fallen leaves, it could be considered "crispy" as well.

[ornotna]

120. Yummy

That makes me moist.

[bluesbassman]

11. Is this like when people were all weirded out about the word "moist" a couple years back?

I never understood that either, so I guess this too shall pass.

[TwilightZone]

12. People are still weirded out about "moist".

They're just not as vocal about it, so it faded from the social media consciousness a bit.

Some other shiny object replaced it.

[bluesbassman]

18. I still don't get it.

It’s a pretty good word. Who doesn’t like a moist cake, or moist lips, as opposed to dry? I guess I need to get out more.

[TwilightZone]

21. I don't, either.

But I have friends who literally recoil from the word. It's almost a subconscious reaction.

[Sky Jewels]

82. I think it's the sound of the word.

Moooyyyest. I don’t really get why it’s a big deal, but there you have it.

[LeftInTX]

98. It's what it implies

It became sexual in the 70s and has gained sexual traction since.

[Sky Jewels]

100. Also true.

But I also think it’s the weird sound.

[meadowlander]

110. It's associated with female sexuality

and therefore in the minds of tween boys (and people who haven't really moved on from the tween boy mentality in this area) it is "gross" because "yuck, girl stuff".

[TwilightZone]

139. It's not just teen boys and there seems to be more to it than that.

https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/64984/science-behind-why-people-hate-word-moist

[radius777]

137. This is the first I've heard about 'moist' being weird.

Maybe it's generational, I'm gen-x (ie middle aged) and grew up with TV commercials marketing 'moist chocolate chip cookies', 'moist and gooey brownies', etc... nobody I know has ever objected to that word. Cooking shows routinely use 'moist' to describe food.

And as far as how it's used to describe female sexuality - people don't view 'moist' in that context to be gross - but hot and sexy.

IOW, in both the culinary and sexual contexts of the word it's viewed to be a good and desirable quality.

[TwilightZone]

138. I don't think it's generational, and it's very common.

It seems to cover the generational spectrum and numerous articles have been written on the subject.

Here's one about the science behind it: https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/64984/science-behind-why-people-hate-word-moist

And a video:

[Rebl2]

15. I like

a moist piece of chocolate cake.

[bluesbassman]

19. I know, right?

Yum!

[Aristus]

22. How about a moist handshake?

[bluesbassman]

74. Good point, but I don't shake hands with fourteen year old boys too often.

But when I do, I just remember what it was like going through puberty during those years.

Now a fifty year old guy with a moist handshake? That does creep me out a little.

[chowder66]

42. People started freaking out about the word moist decades ago.

I thought it was pretty weird. In Los Angeles of all places!!

[yorkster]

14. Well, I hate hearing verse for vs. It's versus

fer crissakes...
I know I know it's from gaming yadda yadda.

OK mini rant over.

I crisply snuck in a diversion...

but do want to know from whence this sprung. 🤔

[canetoad]

77. Or draw

For drawer.

[cyclonefence]

127. Until I saw it in print

I believed that piece of furniture was "Chester Drars."

[cyclonefence]

123. oh, it's just been building up

and today, for some reason, it reached a breaking point. I probably saw a cooking show where something was described as "crispy," when it was clearly "crisp." "Crispy," like "veggies," strikes me as infantile. Why don't people use the word "crisp" any more?

Plus, I'm so goddam tired of Trump. Reached that breaking point five years ago.

[yorkster]

124. Well, you see crisp and crunchy got together

and things were never the same. Crunchy had spunk and crisp wanted some of that and just plain took it.

Now as for me, I hate scrumptious, which brings up memories of my otherwise happy childhood. Mostly telly memories of 50s housewives and poor women with bad hairdos in mink coats standing by gleaming appliances because they were queen for a day. That's what you saw if you were sick on the couch and not in school.
The silly programs had ads for "scrumptious" desserts,.
As a kid, I felt badly for those women. It was a scam. Lives would not be changed
and soon everything would revert to what it was before the lady won the prize.

Thank gawd for Dave Garroway and Adlai Stevenson. ..

But, I digress, she said, long after the digression became the main event...

See what "mindfields" your
post brought out. Ain't words wunnerful?

[cyclonefence]

126. I do so appreciate your reply

"Queen for a Day" was indeed what I watched when I was home sick. I remember my poor grandmother, whose husband--the person I loved most in the world--had been killed in a locomotive explosion (he was the engineer), saying "They don't know what sad is" about the women who competed with each other for a new wardrobe presented by Mary Cagney.

[yorkster]

132. What a strong and sad memory that is.

You never know when you say or write something, the precise way it will affect someone or, in this case, have such
unexpected relevance.

On another note, take care and let us hope
that Tuesday will bring good news for all of us.

[3catwoman3]

144. I can't get used to "unctuous" being used in a positive way...

…as often happens on various of the cooking shows. It’s original negative meanings (oily, greasy, slick, smug, excessively pious) for either a physical substance or a behavior/demeanor are so firmly fixed in my brain that hearing it used to describe a pleasing oral sensation just feels wrong.

[yorkster]

148. Yikes. Uriah Heep comes to mind with that

word, also Pence, Vance, etc.
Can't imagine any positive association with unctuous.
Wonder if it's an archaic usage that's been
"exhumed"?

[retread]

16. When I was a teenager I snuck out of the house into the crisp fall evening. n/t

[Jerry2144]

71. The weather was chill and moist

[RoadRunner]

17. I thunk the same thing the other day

[TwilightZone]

23. Thunk is also a word in that context.

It's informal and/or dialectal. Who would've thunk it?

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/who-would-ve-thunk-it

https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/thunk

[Aristus]

24. Sometimes we alter words to fit what we are saying, or the way we say it.

Sometimes, when I’ve slipped into my Texas accent, I will playfully say something like ‘brung’ instead of ‘brought’, because it fits the drawl. I know perfectly well what the proper past tense is; I’m just having fun.

[TwilightZone]

26. Brung in that context is a word.

It's dialectal and informal, but still a word.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/brung

Recent examples in the media:

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/brung#examples

[LeftInTX]

89. Based on the OP, it should be bringed

[cyclonefence]

96. You are mistaken

Bring, brang, done brought. Didn't you go to school at all?

[LeftInTX]

97. I learned "snuck" in the 1960s

[Jilly_in_VA]

25. It's much better than

"ooey-gooey". That one makes me want to puke.

[chowder66]

43. LOL.

[cyclonefence]

94. Oh yeah

"Crispy" is the first step on the path to "ooey-gooey." Is there no hope for us?

[GreenWave]

28. This guy was the son of Crisp!

Find the dad and mystery solved.

[Mark.b2]

30. I'd just be happy if kids would the first T back in "important"!

Even news people are saying it as “impor-ant”.

[rog]

35. "That' is the word ...

... that's driving me crazy right now.

[Hekate]

47. They substitute a glottal stop for the T

Clin’on
Bill and Hillary Clin’n
When did that happen? Was it regional? Because it sure has spread.

[Mark.b2]

72. I've noticed it in younger people, maybe 30-ish and below..nt

[electric_blue68]

101. Really? Ehhh

[yorkster]

112. Or impordant. Or liddle instead of little.

Or the boddom line. And so it goes...

[miyazaki]

33. What's going on? Crispix is my favorite cereal.

-even though i can't afford it anymore. sad.

[SocialDemocrat61]

34. Maybe they don't like donuts

[Ilsa]

41. People who dislike Krispy Kremes be crazy! nt

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

73. I hate them! Gimme a nice heavy cake donut. Not crispy, a little moist. nt

[Ilsa]

116. Like the sour creme donuts? Now those are heavy!

I love the lightness of the KrKr, especially if they've been heated 6 sec in the microwave.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

122. Yes, those should survive dunking in coffee without dissolving. Hey, it's time for breakfast! nt

[3catwoman3]

146. Me, too. I like what I call "hockey puck" donuts.

Dense, heavy and substantial. And moist -

[boston bean]

36. DU member CrispyQ will be very disappointed to hear this.

[msfiddlestix]

37. This is apparently the most important issue in your world today?

I'm like wtf is this about politically. Now I understand it's a personal complaint of no significance in reference to current events.

[debm55]

38. Agree.

[Hekate]

48. It's a respite from politics

[displacedvermoter]

39. I am helping to run a cemetery tour

and the weather in Burlington right now is crisp. That is OK usage, right?

[sl8]

40. "Snuck isn't a word, Conan. And you went to Harvard ..."

Skip to 1:15:

Youtube / Conan O'Brien

[cyclonefence]

52. All right Jennifer Garner!!!

Thanks. You made my day.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

57. Still no context for your OP. "Snuck", "sneaked", "crisp" and "crispy" all have their places and usages. . . . . nt

[cyclonefence]

66. Just my gripe

I don't object to those forms per se but to the fact that those (imo improper) forms displaced the proper (again, imo) forms, forms that can be conjugated.

No one says "crisp" any more. What's wrong with "crisp?" Although I haven't heard anyone say "It was a crispy fall day," I fear that's just around the corner. If global warming ever allows us to have crisp fall days again.

Every damn thing that's crisp, particularly foodstuffs, is described as "crispy."

I'm just a crank, I guess, with too much time on my hands.

But Jennifer Garner, of all people.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

70. "Crispy" actually has a useful specific meaning, if you would pause long enough to see it

"Crispy" means "crisp-like but not truly crisp".

Like "cranky" means "crank-like" without actually being truly a crank.

[Judi Lynn]

80. Have despised it from the 1first time I had to hear it, too. I think it started in commercials,

being used to attract hungry gluttons even more to think of potato chips, or cereal, or something. Standard, commonly used words wouldn't work well enough for them, apparently.

It has made me sick every time I've heard it since then. "Snuck" also has driven me around the bend, every time.

Hearing sudden, absurd, nonsensical phrases or terms as they arrive, like "pushing the envelope" and other empty, blank, stupid contrivances get picked up and used, as if they actually have meaning other people understand is disgusting and odd, also.

Thank you. You were never alone with this, even if it seemed that way!

[cyclonefence]

91. So far

It's you and me and Jennifer Garner.

[sl8]

105. Well, she did look pretty abashed when Conan corrected her.

I thought she pulled it off very well, though.

[MineralMan]

45. Nothing at all. A "Crisp" is one piece from a packet of crisps.

The language is English, and in England, crisps are snacks like American chips. It is difficult to eat a single crisp, of course, but one can do it in a pinch.

Chips are what we call fries here in the colonies.

The language is English, so we should be able to accept the language as it is spoken in England, I think.

Speaking of which, I think I left a packet of crisps in the boot of my saloon car. I'm a bit peckish, so I'll be right back.

[Dear_Prudence]

55. Congratulations

On 16 years on DU as of today, Nov 2. Keep on keeping on!

[MineralMan]

56. Ha! I had forgotten the date. Thanks!

That's quite a long time, isn't it?

[LeftInTX]

76. A guy from the UK said

"Our speech is not wimpy"

My response:
"Why do you call the hood of a car a bonnet?"

[MineralMan]

84. Well, they call the top roof of the car the "head."

A convertible coupe is called a "drop head coupe."

New technology demands new names, but the British always used familiar names from related vehicles. So, a sedan became a "saloon car." Because a "sedan" is a closed carriage carried by people. None of it makes much sense, really.

[dweller]

53. Have you looked at the price

Lettuce ?!?1!

🫤



✌🏻

[CrispyQ]

58. I think it's a great word! And all it's variants, too.

[TwilightZone]

87. Ha, nice.

[marble falls]

60. The language evolves. It's a health thing.

[ananda]

61. A lot of slang, grammatical usage, and alternate spellings...

that used to be considered bad English, have become the
norm today.

One example is that what used to be spelled "led" is now
spelled "lead," meaning the past tense of lead.

People also now say "bored of" instead of "bored with."

And there are many many others.

My advice: just go with the flow.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

67. Be consistent. Don't break your own rules when you are pretending to lay down the law

If we use your proscriptive logic, there is no verb "goddam". You should know better and write it "god damn". If you believe there is a god or there are gods or doGs or ceiling cats.

[cyclonefence]

95. You don't understand

I'm not opposed to slang, or neologisms, or any kind of informal grammar--and I don't care if people misplace apostrophes (actually, a misplaced apostrophe might prejudice me against wanting to know someone)--I truly don't. I just don't want the standard words, especially verb forms, to be erased from the earth. And I'm afraid that's what's happening. Goddammit.

[Elessar Zappa]

119. But what is "standard" is not static nor has it even been.

Spelling and usage constantly change. They start in informal conversation and work their way into formal rules. If we wanted the original, standard form of English, no one here would understand a word.

[Island Blue]

78. Wut?

[muriel_volestrangler]

79. 'Snuck' has overtaken 'sneaked' in written American English, though 'crisp' is still ahead of 'crispy'

https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=snuck%2Csneaked&year_start=1800&year_end=2022&corpus=en-US&smoothing=3&case_insensitive=false

https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=crisp%2Ccrispy&year_start=1800&year_end=2022&corpus=en-US&smoothing=3&case_insensitive=false

The Oxford English Dictionary admitted 'snuck' into the lexicon in 1998: https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1998/12/26/it-snuck-into-the-oed/2feebed5-7dce-451f-8d97-426ded921166/

The first written use of "sneaked" or "snuck" was "sneaked", but not until the 1830s: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/278394686_How_snuck_sneaked_into_English_and_drug_is_still_dragging_behind_A_corpus_study_on_the_usage_of_new_past_tense_forms_for_sneak_and_drag_in_British_and_American_English

The earliest known use of the adjective crispy is in the Middle English period (1150—1500). OED's earliest evidence for crispy is from 1398, in a translation by John Trevisa, translator.

https://www.oed.com/dictionary/crispy_adj

[cyclonefence]

103. The citation isn't from usage of the word

in actual writing, but rather one translator's saying that "crispy" is derived from "crisp." No evidence that it was actually used that way. If you can find an actual text using the word "crispy" from ME, please send it to me. I'm not being a snot--I majored in Medieval Studies and studied ME for a couple of years. I truly would like to see that word used actually any time before, say, 1750. I believe it is a modern abomination.

My print copy of the OED does not contain this citation.

And, as I keep saying, I don't care if people use it--I have no aversion to the word itself--except for the fact that the word "crisp"--a perfectly good word, and a syllable shorter--is apparently disappearing from English usage.

[muriel_volestrangler]

113. No, the OED writer says "derived from crisp"; the translator used "cryspy"

When the adjective “crisp” showed up in Old English, it meant curly, as in curly hair. It’s derived from crispus, classical Latin for “curled.” Although standard dictionaries still include the hair sense of “crisp,” it now usually refers to stiff, closely curling, or frizzy hair.

The OED’s earliest example is from an anonymous Old English translation (circa 900) of Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum, a Latin church history written in the eighth century by the Anglo-Saxon monk Bede:
...
When the adjective “crispy” appeared in the late 14th century, Oxford says, it also referred to curly hair: “By grete heete the heer of the berd and of the heed ben cryspy and curlyd.” From John Trevisa’s 1398 Middle English translation of De Proprietatibus Rerum (“On the Order of Things”), an encyclopedic Latin work compiled in the 13th century by the medieval scholar Bartholomeus Anglicus.

https://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/2019/09/crisp-crispy.html

The NGrams graph shows that "crisp" is increasing in use. It's just that "crispy" is increasing faster.

[gay texan]

81. I hate the word "wholesome" n/t

[nolabear]

85. Indubitably

?si=g9npBE4YsBWF4h20

[TwilightZone]

90. Your usage of "Goddam" is hilarious in the context of the rest of your post.

That's an example of informal usage.

Just like "snuck" is informal usage.

Perhaps, it was ironic?

[ForgedCrank]

99. I got

raked over the coals as a youngster for not using proper structure or vocabulary. My dad "didn't want us sounding like uneducated idiots".
I've graduated from that. I use a lot of slang, and I use a lot of words that many outsiders find odd, it's a culture of language and where I am from. but I never write that way for some reason. I don't see anything wrong with "snuck". We all know what it means, it's well established and accepted. As long as I don't say "ain't got no..." in front of my dad, everything is well.

[3catwoman3]

154. Your dad and my mom had that in common. My mother was a nurse but...

…was also very particular about language use - this kind/these kinds etc, etc, etc. Her mom was also a nurse, and her dad a dentist, so I’m not sure from whence her standards originated.

Wherever they came from, I was sufficiently conditioned to have the same standards. I, too, am a nurse, although I sometimes feel sure I must have been an English teacher or editor in a past life. Today’s sloppy speech and writing drives me crazy. Especially people using him/her/me when it should be he/she/I - “Him and me went to the movies.”

Aauuugggghhhhh -

[notroot]

106. "Ain't" wasn't a word when I was a kid. It is now.

I still rarely use it except for color.

[muriel_volestrangler]

114. "Ain't I?" seems more justifiable than "aren't I?"

"Am I not?" would be the "full" way of saying it, nor "are I not?"

[notroot]

117. My mom didn't like it, either. Maybe because she grew up country, herself.

There was a stigma attached to both people who used "ain't", and to those who thought it was wrong. LOL. I just happened to fall into the latter category.

I use it now, but not as a manner of speech. More as a colloquialism, like "ain't that something".

[TwilightZone]

140. Ain't has been around since at least the 1700s.

https://www.grammarly.com/blog/vocabulary/aint/

As for the color, are you referring to haint? Haint blue is a color traditionally used in a lot of porch ceilings in the South. It has a lot of history and cultural significance.

[notroot]

147. Just relaying my childhood experience.

Mom thought it was "hick" and wouldn't let us use it.

By "color" I mean rhetorical color.

[TwilightZone]

152. "Ain't wasn't a word when I was a kid. It is now."

It wasn't at all clear that you meant only in your personal experience.

It's best avoided in professional writing because it's informal, but in conversation, ain't is culturally extensive and has been for centuries. Its usage is very common in much of rural - and often very white - America, especially in places like the Upper Midwest. The common assertion that it's the purview of the ignorant is, in itself, quite ignorant.

[notroot]

153. Just relating my lived experience. Not sure why you're so keen to debate this point.

I ain't interested, anymore.

Byeeeee

[LeftInTX]

157. My mom would scold us if we said it...lol

[ismnotwasm]

115. Nothing. Nothing is wrong with it

Maybe it has the 2024 ick factor that “moist” used to have haha

[TwilightZone]

142. Moist still has it.

Lots of people still hate it. Tons of articles, etc., have been written on the science behind it.

Example: https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/64984/science-behind-why-people-hate-word-moist

And a video:

[Renew Deal]

121. Snuck: "Earliest known use 1500's"

You might be 500 years late with this complaint.

https://www.oed.com/dictionary/sneak_v?tab=factsheet#22148774

[PJMcK]

128. For a strange post..

… you sure got a lot of replies!

[samnsara]

129. and the word hanged.....my 5th grade English teacher said OBJECTS are HUNG and

..and People are HANGED


has that changed in a million years?

[Croney]

131. Think how hard it is to say CRISPS in a sentence,

if English is not your first language! You have to say crizz-puisss. Ugh.

What I really hate is "invite" used as a noun.

[TwilightZone]

141. Invite has been used as a noun since the early 1600s.

The earliest known use of the noun invite is in the early 1600s.

OED's earliest evidence for invite is from 1615, in the writing of George Sandys, writer and traveller.

https://www.oed.com/dictionary/invite_n?tl=true

[Croney]

149. I still lament the demise of the word invitation.

[soandso]

162. lol

At that and this entire thread.

I had no idea that people were grossed out by the word moist though I've certainly seen it take on an overly sexual connotation. I wonder if they object to the words moisturize and moisture.

First thing that comes to mind for the word crisp is a British name for a potato chip. I also like crisp celery, carrots and lettuce. I like my pizza crust on the crispy side, as well as my cookies.

The word I HATE is "whilst", especially if an American says or writes it. Inexcusable.

[muriel_volestrangler]

155. About as hard as "wisps"? Or "lisps"?

Or, really, "rasps", "asps", "clasps", and so on.

[Croney]

156. Yep. My response was to the specific OP word.

English can be challenging.

[jfz9580m]

143. I don't know what any of this is about

But I like it ..
I like your style cyclonefence !

Btw while I agree about crispy, I thought snuck was not wrong.

[Sneederbunk]

151. Crisp personified.

?si=eaBqTAVV78HKd4gv