Talk:bang

Verb definition

Isn't what is now there as a verb definition actually an interjection?

Is pronounciation correct spelling. I saw it before, but I think it is wrong. Polyglot 23:42, 15 Jan 2004 (UTC)

I've shuffled things around. I think it's right now. -- Ortonmc 04:56, 16 Jan 2004 (UTC)

When you add definitions

When you add definitions, please change the numbers of the already translated definitions. Thanks. Webkid 10:05, 16 Jan 2004 (UTC)

Sorry Webkid, I thought I did. Must've missed one. Hippietrail 11:00, 16 Jan 2004 (UTC)

Etymology

Wiktionary, today

Onomatopoeic.

Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary, 1973

prob. of Scand origin; akin to Icel banga to hammer

Merriam-Webster OnLine, today [1]

probably of Scandinavian origin; akin to Old Norse bang hammering

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 [2]

Icel. banga to hammer; akin to Dan. banke to beat, Sw. bångas to be impetuous, G. bengel club, clapper of a bell.

Online Etymology Dictioary, today [3]

c.1550, "to strike hard with a loud blow," from O.N. banga "to pound, hammer" of echoic origin. Slang meaning "have sexual intercourse with" first recorded 1937. Bangs of hair first recorded 1878, Amer.Eng., though 1870 of horses (bang-tail), perhaps from notion of abruptness (cf. bang off "immediately, without delay, 1886; bang-up "excellent, first-rate," 1820, probably shortened from phrase bang up to the mark). Big bang in astrophysics first recorded 1950. Banger British slang for "a sausage" is first recorded 1919, perhaps from sense of "a bludgeon," though this is only recorded in U.S.

"This is the way the world ends

Not with a bang but a whimper"

[T.S. Eliot, "Hollow Men," 1925]

The above may serve as some minimal grounds of etymological talks about bang. --KYPark 09:17, 8 March 2007 (UTC)

Slang or figurative

File:Moerser-und-Pistill.jpg

A mortar and pestle.

The sense of "sexual intercourse" may be not a special slang but a common figurative, as anyone could be easily suggested by the pounding motion of the pestle in the mortar, should such pounding be understood as the foundational sense of bang. Vulgarism may also be disputed. --KYPark 12:33, 8 March 2007 (UTC)

Missing sense: perhaps a partying session?

In Black or White, Michael Jackson sings "I took my baby on a Saturday bang." Is this like a bash? Equinox ◑ 13:52, 31 October 2016 (UTC)

Why the hair sense?

Why is this word used for a hairstyle? Equinox ◑ 20:52, 25 February 2017 (UTC)

Is if from the horse sense, bangtail. --Dmol (talk) 22:24, 25 February 2017 (UTC)