The hunter should probably give credit where credit is due

August 18, 2006 2:41 AM

What is the origin of the term MILF?

I know the first time I ever heard it was in American Pie. A google search for anything involving MILF yields nothing but porn sites... So does anybody have any references to MILF that are pre-1999? None of the etymology dictionaries I've found online have entries for MILF. I'm just curious as to who should be given credit for providing the world with such a well-used phrase.

posted by antifuse to society & culture (25 comments total)

The wiktionary discussion page has some people saying they used the acronym as early as 1993, but it's not verifiable enough to actually put on the main page.

Ameican Pie seems to be widely regarded as "popularizing" the term.
posted by aubilenon at 2:59 AM on August 18, 2006

Yeah, I saw that bit on the wiktionary page... unfortunately, "My buddy totally used to say that way before American Pie did!" doesn't seem to be all that official :)

If it WAS American Pie, can anybody think of another word/term as widely used that was first coined in a movie?
posted by antifuse at 3:55 AM on August 18, 2006

I heard it in high school, circa 1991/1992 in reference to a fellow student's mom. (Ex Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader)
posted by Lord_Pall at 4:38 AM on August 18, 2006

I heard it as far back as high school, which would be '89 for me.
posted by neilkod at 4:59 AM on August 18, 2006 [1 favorite]

My friend Daisuke used to say it in 1989 in Monterey, California about a lady who came in to the deli we worked in in the summer.
posted by Joseph Gurl at 5:03 AM on August 18, 2006

I heard it back in the summer of '96 or '97.
posted by inigo2 at 5:26 AM on August 18, 2006

Yeah, I know this is just anecdote, but I heard it in high school (from which I graduated in 1988). It may have been made more widely known by American Pie, but it most certainly wasn't coined for the movie.
posted by OmieWise at 5:34 AM on August 18, 2006

First heard it in middle school at the beach, circa 1994.
posted by saladin at 5:59 AM on August 18, 2006

I always thought that, if this acronym *did* have origins before American Pie (although I'd never heard it before), it might have evolved from the more innocent, pronounceable "MILK" (K=Kiss).
But of course I have zero evidence to back that up, except for logical extension.
posted by jozxyqk at 6:03 AM on August 18, 2006

can anybody think of another word/term as widely used that was first coined in a movie?

Not from a movie, but: "d'oh."

Though I suppose calling that a word or phrase is stretching it.
posted by SmileyChewtrain at 6:15 AM on August 18, 2006

SmileyChewtrain: I suppose there's quite a few things from the Simpsons that have made it into fairly common usage.

Any way, it seems as though there's a fair bit of anecdotal evidence showing that it was at least regionally known before American Pie... That's likely how the writer came to know it, in fact. Of course, post-American Pie, it's EVERYWHERE. :)
posted by antifuse at 6:17 AM on August 18, 2006

can anybody think of another word/term as widely used that was first coined in a movie?

"Show me the money" was already a cliche before Jerry Maguire left theaters.

People also use "the Dark Side" in regular everyday language to refer to someone making a disagreeable decision...

There are zillions of things we say that we don't even know are movie references anymore, I'm sure...
posted by jozxyqk at 6:23 AM on August 18, 2006

Anything from Wayne's World stuck around for a while...
"Exsqueeze me?" "Not!" etc.
posted by sweetkid at 6:34 AM on August 18, 2006

The word MILF could have been coined independently multiple times. Just a thought.
posted by lunchbox at 6:36 AM on August 18, 2006

Though I suppose calling that a word or phrase is stretching it.

"D'oh!" is an ejaculation ("a sudden short exclamation" or "an abrupt emphatic exclamation expressing emotion").
Watson ejaculates all the time in the Sherlock Holmes stories.
posted by kirkaracha at 6:38 AM on August 18, 2006 [1 favorite]

Apparently the word 'Paparazzi' is derived from a character in 'La Dolce Vita'.

I've always preferred the term 'yummy mummy' myself.
posted by TwoWordReview at 6:47 AM on August 18, 2006

neilkod writes "I heard it as far back as high school, which would be '89 for me."

Ditto.
posted by Mitheral at 6:53 AM on August 18, 2006

There is an essay in linguist Geoff Nunberg's book The Way We Talk Now about how quotes from movies often make it into our lexicon, but television influences language less often. I suppose the Simpsons is an exception to that rule.
posted by donajo at 6:57 AM on August 18, 2006

The first printed or verifiable use of it I'm aware of is in Motorbooty magazine... probably around 1990. I have the issue around here somewhere.
posted by dobbs at 7:09 AM on August 18, 2006

Doing a search of USENET postings (From google groups) brings up this reference from 1995. So that seems to be conclusive proof of usage. It was clear from the post that it wasn't a coinage then, but something that the poster had heard.
posted by Philbo at 8:13 AM on August 18, 2006

Back in the 60s, slam books were popular in the junior highs in my home town. (These were small spiral-bound notebooks with a person's name on the front. They were passed around and people would write comments about the person.) Sometimes, comments would be written using only the first letters of the words. One of the more common abbreviations was GILTS, or Girl I'd Like To Screw.

At some point, someone wrote in a slam book: "She's got a MILTS" and the xILTS meme (MILTS, SILTS, FILTS, DILTS -- mother, sister, friend, dog) took off from there and lasted for about 6 months, spreading from the slam books to conversation before it died out.

When I saw American Pie and heard MILF, I wondered if anyone from my home town had been involved with the movie.
posted by forrest at 10:47 AM on August 18, 2006

The movie didn't create the terminology, it was merely a methodology of applying it into mainstream culture, what could have been a regional/subculture phenomenon.

Let's remember, these "comming of age" films make a living off of dissecting pseudo-specific aspects and traits of subculture that have excessive potential for yeilding universal appeal. What do you think made AP (masturbation, sex, MILF etc...)/Old School (Fraternity, "Snoopaloop", "Once it touches your lips")/Varsity Blues (whipped cream bikini) etc so popular amongst the youth?
posted by stratastar at 11:39 AM on August 18, 2006

I recall a Boondocks comicstrip that attempted to use part of a movie's title as a euphemism.. "Man, that's brokeback."
posted by vanoakenfold at 1:41 PM on August 18, 2006

Pretty sure I heard this phrase in high school and I graduated in '83. So it may predate that.

The meme "Man, your mother is hot" probably goes back to the late 60's (or before). Surely it derived from that along the way.
posted by qwip at 6:17 PM on August 18, 2006

just a shot, but could the acronymn have developed in the cultural ripples following The Graduate?
posted by garfy3 at 1:18 PM on August 19, 2006