Did you go 'bonkers' before 1957?

New Delhi: Did you go ‘bonkers’ before 1957 or visit the ‘loo’ before 1940?

Well, here’s your chance to go word-hunting as editors of Oxford English Dictionary (OED) have sought the public's help to find the roots of 40 well-known phrases and words like ‘bonkers’ and ‘loo’.

All of such words are in the dictionary with a date of the earliest evidence of usage, but researchers want to know if people can do better.

While the word 'stiletto' is dated back to a magazine article from 1959, editors believe it must have appeared in an earlier fashion publication, the Times reported.

‘Loo’, a euphemism for toilet, has been traced to 1940 but it is unclear whether James Joyce invented the term in a pun about the 1815 Battle of Waterloo, or whether it comes from the French word lieu (place) or "l'eau" (water).

Word-hunters have found words "tucked away in football fanzines, LPs, school newspapers - just the sort of sources we can't easily get our hands on," OED's chief editor John Simpson was quoted as saying by media.

He said the dictionary's first public appeal went out in 1859 and the results of the search will feature on a BBC television programme.

(With PTI inputs)