Long before Facebook, first pal was unfriended in 1275

Advertisement
By Press Trust of India | Updated: 27 August 2013 16:16 IST
A few words which seem to be straight out of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg's slang bag have actually been around for the past couple of centuries.

The word "unfriend", an option to dump a friend on social networking website Facebook by clicking a button, was first used as a noun as far back as 1275. Its usage as a verb dates back to 1659.

"The verb unfriend, though it has gained widespread currency as the ultimate act of social severance in social media, dates back to 1659. It existed even earlier as a noun as far back as 1275," wrote Simon Thomas, Oxford English

Dictionaries' blog editor, who keeps a tab on trending words.

Advertisement

"The nominal sense has yet to have a 21st-century renaissance, but was briefly revived in the 19th century by the Scottish novelist Walter Scott," Thomas wrote in a post dedicated to words being used by today's youth that are wrongly believed to be recent additions to the English language.

Advertisement

In 1659, Thomas Fuller, Church of England clergyman, wrote in "The appeal of injured innocence": "I hope, sir, that we are not mutually un-friended by this difference which hath happened betwixt us."

Ditto for the word "text" - the first recorded usage of which was in 1564.

Advertisement

"True, that sense made no mention of the mobile phone (unsurprisingly), meaning instead 'to cite texts', but another 16th century (1564) sense describes a situation familiar to anybody who has tried to convey shouting in a text message.," Thomas wrote.

However, "lol" which is used as an acronym for "lots of love", is listed in the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) as "laughing out loud" since 1989. A 1960 usage refers to LOL as "little old lady".

 

For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.

Further reading: Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, unfriend
Advertisement

Related Stories

Popular Mobile Brands
  1. James Webb Telescope Uncovers the Turbulent Birth of the First Galaxies
  1. NASA Telescopes Capture First-Ever Companion Star Orbiting Massive Red Supergiant Betelgeuse
  2. Scientists Caution That Artificial Cooling of Earth May Disrupt Monsoons and Weather Systems
  3. Carnegie Mellon’s AI Drones Can Build Mid-Air Structures With 90 Percent Success Rate
  4. Baai Tuzyapayi OTT Release Date: When and Where to Watch Marathi Romantic Drama Online?
  5. Maxton Hall Season 2 OTT Release Date: When and Where to Watch it Online?
  6. Shakti Thirumagan Now Streaming on JioHotstar: Everything You Need to Know About Vijay Antony’s Political Thriller
  7. Semi-Transparent Solar Cells Break Records, Promise Energy-Generating Windows and Facades
  8. Chang’e-6 Lunar Samples Reveal Water-Rich Asteroid Fragments
  9. James Webb Telescope Uncovers the Turbulent Birth of the First Galaxies
  10. Troll 2 OTT Release Date: When and Where to Watch it Online?
Gadgets 360 is available in
Download Our Apps
Available in Hindi
© Copyright Red Pixels Ventures Limited 2025. All rights reserved.