First there was YOLO, followed by BAE and then the ‘basic b*tch’ lingo flooded the internet.
While most people might understandably believe that the ‘basic’ insult was a modern Urban Dictionary addition, but the word stems back as far as 1950.
Kate Moss famously called a flight attendant a ‘basic b*tch’ but it seems she was taking some queues from Sylvia Plath.
While Urban Dictionary might describe being basic as:
1. Used to describe someone devoid of defining characteristics that might make a person interesting, extraordinary, or just simply worth devoting time or attention to.
2. Lacking intelligence and unable to socialize on even an elementary level.
3. Annoyingly frustrating because of the above”
The word has been stolen from American poet and author Sylvia Plath, who wrote about a person being of ‘basic character’:
“You’ve had all you can take of good-looking vacuums and shallow socialites. So you try to be basic. You are such a basic character anyway.”
Discovered by one eagle-eyed tweeter, Alana Massey posted:
Holy shit you guys, Sylvia Plath has been calling people basic since 1950. Pioneer bitch! pic.twitter.com/NY83Y3vh7I
— Alana Massey (@AlanaMassey) August 5, 2015
Proof that real literature lasts a lifetime.
H/T The Telegraph
