Since the mid-1980s, numpty has been used as a mild term of abuse
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London: The Oxford English Dictionary has launched a search to find the first recorded use in English of ‘numpty’, which means a foolish or stupid person.
Since the mid-1980s, numpty has been used as a mild term of abuse.
The earliest evidence found by OED is from a 1988 book by Michael Munro, , chronicling colloquialisms in Glasgow, Scotland. The researchers want to find out if Glaswegians really were the first to call people numpties, or the term existed earlier in other parts of the UK. The adjective, meaning ‘foolish or idiotic’, appears to have been used first a few years later than the noun, on the TV show Rab C Nesbitt.
( Source : PTI )
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