Feeling All Stabby

You’re listening to A Way with Words. I’m Martha Barnette, along with Grant Barrett.

Martha, reaching into my big bag of words, there’s one I’ve been liking very much recently.

What would that be?

Stabby.

Stabby?

S-T-A-B-B-Y. Stabby. They’ll say things like, every time the internet goes out, it makes me feel all stabby, which means they’re prone to stabbing something, and they feel like stabbing something.

Okay, yeah, it’s a little violent.

Yeah, yeah, but you’re saying that it’s used in a more sort of benign way now?

Oh, I’m just feeling stabby.

That’s right. More benign. But there’s two things that interest me about this. First of all, it’s escaped the attention of lexicographers. I can’t find it in any dictionary. Stabby. And yet you will see that particularly in the last few years, it’s had kind of a vogue, a resurgence. It’s become popular, particularly in informal texts. Stabby.

How did I miss stabby?

But the absolute best thing, the reason I like this word, the reason I’m bringing it to your attention is that I found a quote from 1970 in a book called Wilt Thou Torchy by Sewell Ford.

And I swear that’s the title of it.

It’s very bizarre.

1970.

And the quote goes like this.

Her eyes are the stabby kind, worse than long hat pins.

I mean, what does that tell you about that woman’s face?

Okay, that’s nice.

Yeah.

It’s good.

It’s one of these people with a powerful glare, the one that can make you admit to sins.

Oh, yeah.

This is the kind of glance that a mother has to her children, right?

She looks at you.

She sees through your soul.

She knows things about you.

Right, right.

Stabby eyes, sharp ones, piercing ones.

Right, or the face you have on the subway, you know, so people won’t bother you, right?

Oh, yeah, that’s called mean mugging or mad mugging.

Sure, I get that one.

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