Mandy's Words of the Week

My first word is NOMS, something my roommate says often. For example: "I'm gonna have ice cream for dessert! Noms!!". For us, it means something tastes good or we like it, basically. It generally is just for food or drink items, and after considering where the word came from, this makes a lot of sense. As it is a newer and slang term, naturally noms is not in the OED, so I had to rely on a basic google search for it's etymology. While I knew that the word came about on the Internet and is found in memes, I was surprised to learn that most people claim it began with Cookie Monster, on Sesame Street, because when he ate cookies he went 'om nom nom' (kind of like the sound you would make when wolfing something down). Urban Dictionary credits the definition as (and added this entry in 2004): 

"An onomatopoeic adjective based on the sound emitted when something is “oh so tasty” (either through hunger or flavorological value) that one gnaws through it without regard to cleanliness or etiquette. This sort of ravenous eating will often result in an “om nom nom nom” noise being emitted from the eater."

http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/44183/where-does-nom-nom-nom-come-from

As the Internet community tends to do, this om nom nom phrase took off, and can be applied to any funny picture/meme online now, such as : 

 My roommate has taken it a step further and clipped the word into just 'noms',  but the meaning remains the same.

My second word to examine is MYRTLE. Today in class, when we discussed how strange some terms of endearment are, I realized that my dad calls me Myrtle sometimes, and I had no idea why. I think he just does it because Myrtle starts with M just as Mandy does, but I don't know who or what Myrtle is. So I thought it would be a fun word to learn more about. The OED informed of this obsolete definition: 

"The edible fruit of a myrtle; a myrtle berry"

The more current definition is

"Any of various evergreen shrubs or small trees of the genus Myrtus (family Myrtaceae) or formerly included in it;"  So, although it doesn't help me figure out the origin of my dad's nickname, I at least learned a new word thanks to him this week. 

My final word that interested me recently is the word SOLID as a slang adjective. Everyone knows the traditional meaning of 'solid', like something being sturdy, but I have noticed that a lot of people now a days, including myself, use it to mean 'cool' or 'good'. For example: "I just won $100! Solid!!"

This usage is not found in the OED, so again I consulted Urban Dictionary, where it is recognized. Their given definition is "something you might say in confirmation, or congratulations to someone who either did something tight, or when you are on the same wavelength."This entry was added back in 2003, so although it is still a relatively new term, it is actually older than I had thought, since I haven't heard it until my college years.