The Oxford Dictionary of New Words

a neutral term and came to be applied retrospectively to some of the groups formerly classified as hard rock (notably Led Zeppelin, who have come to be thought of as the founders of heavy metal). In the eighties the term was increasingly used adjectivally, and heavy metal proved to be one of the major strains of White pop music running alongside Black-inspired styles such as hip hop.

The names of Heavy Metal groups like Deep Purple and Motorhead are inscribed on the back of his leather jacket.

Daily Mirror 10 Apr. 1980, p. 12

New deal and line-up may give Girlschool new impetus in forest of macho HM bands.

Rock Handbook (1986), p. 96

Heavy Metal band Skid Row will be performing at Brisbane's Festival Hall... Skid Row was voted best new band in the 1989 Hot Metal reader's poll and has worked with metal giants Bon Jovi, Aerosmith and Motley Crue.

Sun (Brisbane) 23 Apr. 1990, p. 4

See also speed and thrash

helpline (People and Society) see -line

heritage noun (Environment)

In environmental jargon: the sum of the natural and constructed surroundings which a nation can pass on to future generations (especially areas of outstanding natural beauty, architectural monuments, and sites of historical interest). Often used attributively, especially in:

heritage centre, a multi-media museum celebrating local history and traditions;

heritage coast, a stretch of coastline whose natural features are protected by law from destruction;

In feminist jargon, history emphasizing the role of women or told from a woman's point of view (so as to provide a counterbalance to the traditional view, regarded as being male-dominated); also, a piece of historical writing by or about women.

Etymology: A punning coinage, formed by reinterpreting the word history (actually from Latin and Greek historia 'narrative') as though it were made up of the masculine possessive pronoun his and story, and substituting the feminine possessive pronoun her for his.

History and Usage: The word was coined in the early seventies by militant feminists in the US, who had joined together to form an organization known as WITCH. In Sisterhood is Powerful (1970), feminist writer Robin Morgan wrote of the expansion of this acronym:

The fluidity and wit of the witches is evident in the ever-changing acronym: the basic, original title was Women's International Terrorist Conspiracy from Hell...--and the latest heard at this writing is Women Inspired to Commit Herstory.

Herstory remained effectively limited to feminist writing for some time, but during the eighties acquired a higher profile in general journalism. It is a word which has tended to annoy linguistic purists, who see it as an example of deliberate disregard for the rules of etymology; in a sense, though, this was the reason for its coinage--like wimmin, it was intended to shock people into thinking more carefully about male-dominated views of culture. A writer of herstory is sometimes called a herstorian.

I have tried to write a herstory of the inner psychic meaning of the ancient religion.

Peace News 2 Oct. 1981, p. 15

The television cameras overlooked the...herstorians...To the eye of the TV camera, the parade was a group of provocatively dressed gays.

New Yorker 13 July 1987, p. 17

In a series of hot back-flashes we get the 'herstory' so far. As luck would have it, the dead woman was a writer and reader of modern herstory.

Sunday Times 24 Jan. 1988, section G, p. 5

heterosexism

noun (People and Society)

Discrimination or prejudice in favour of heterosexuals (and, by implication, against homosexuals); the view that heterosexuality is the only acceptable sexual orientation.

Etymology: Formed by adding the suffix -ism (as in ageism, racism, etc.) to the stem of heterosexuality, after the model of sexism.

History and Usage: The word heterosexism was coined at the very end of the seventies in educational circles, when feminism and

the gay liberation movement had succeeded in raising public consciousness about attitudes to sexuality enough to make some educators question the traditional assumptions passed on to children through the educational system. The adjective and noun heterosexist were coined at the same time. In a paper at the National Council of Teachers of English convention in San Francisco in November 1979, Julia Penelope summed up the feminist viewpoint:

Heterosexist language, like so many of the social diseases that require radical treatment, must be understood to be, in and of itself, one of the few manifest symptoms of a thorough-going systemic corruption of human intelligence...Heterosexism...prescribes that the proper conduct for wimmin is passivity, servility, domesticity...heterosexuality as the only 'natural' sexual interest.

By the middle of the eighties there was a lively public debate about the issues involved (both in education and in the general

area of discrimination on grounds of sexuality), and it was even possible to attend heterosexism awareness training. The linking of the Aids risk with gay sex added fuel to this debate: see Aids and homophobia. It is important to note that heterosexism

does not always imply discrimination against homosexuals; often it is simply the assumption (regarded by many as justified) that heterosexuality is the natural state of affairs and the model on which a society should build.

Even a non-sexist history may be heterosexist...in its unquestioned, underlying assumptions; for example, that all women are motivated by an innate desire for men and marriage.

Lisa Tuttle Encyclopedia of Feminism (1986), p. 143

The branch [of the NUT] also calls on the union to train members not to adopt 'heterosexism' that discriminates against homosexuals.

The Times 1 Feb. 1990, p. 4

8.3 hidden agenda...

hidden agenda

noun (Politics)

A secret motivation or bias behind a statement, policy, etc.; an ulterior motive.

Etymology: Formed by combining hidden in its principal figurative sense of 'secret' with agenda, a word which is increasingly used as a countable singular noun meaning 'a list of things to be discussed at a meeting' and hence also 'an individual issue needing discussion or action'.

History and Usage: Like heterosexism, hidden agenda derives from the discussion of social issues in education; particularly during the late sixties and seventies there was much discussion of the concept of a hidden curriculum in schools, whereby pupils acquired a sense of social value or disadvantage from the prevailing attitudes rather than the subjects that were taught.

This concept was translated into that of the hidden agenda in political contexts, international relations, labour relations, etc. during the late seventies and eighties and this became a favourite phrase among journalists in the second half of the eighties. Hidden Agenda was even the title of a controversial British film dealing with the question of a 'shoot-to-kill' policy in Northern Ireland (see Stalkergate in the entry for -gate).

There's family politics, sure, but our jobs are not being threatened...So when we get into disagreements there's no hidden agenda.

Cambridge Chronicle (Massachusetts) 6 Mar. 1986, p. 13

Barrell's general programme is to point out the presence of a hidden political agenda in the strategies of a

poem.

Essays in Criticism Apr. 1990, p. 161

high-fibre

(Health and Fitness) (Lifestyle and Leisure) see fibre

high-five noun and verb (Youth Culture)

In US slang,

noun: A celebratory gesture (originally used in basketball and baseball) in which two people slap their right hands together high over their heads; often in the phrase to lay down or slap high-fives. Hence also figuratively: celebration, jubilation.

intransitive verb: To lay down high-fives in celebration of something or as a greeting; to celebrate.

Etymology: Formed by compounding: a five (that is, a hand-slap; compare British slang bunch of fives for a hand or fist) that is performed high over the head.

History and Usage: The high-five was originally a gesture developed for use in basketball, where it first appeared among the University of Louisville team in the 1979-80 season;

Louisville player Derek Smith claims to have coined the name. By 1980 it was also being used widely in baseball, especially to welcome a player to the plate after a home run (and in this respect is similar to the hugs and other celebratory gestures

used by British football players). Television exposure soon made it a fashionable gesture among young people generally; what ensured its eventual importation to the UK was its adoption by the Teenage Mutant Turtles (in the form high-three, since Turtles do not have fingers) as a jubilant greeting.

All that touched off a wild celebration of hugs, high-fives and champagne spraying.

USA Today 14 Oct. 1987, p. 1

A month has passed since the election and still

Republicans and Democrats are high-fiving.

Maclean's 2 Apr. 1990, p. 11

So with a flying leap and a double high-five the two teammates celebrated the start of a new season.

Sports Illustrated Dec. 1990, p. 16

high ground

noun (Politics)

A position of superiority or advantage (especially one which is likely to accord with public opinion) in a debate, conflict, election campaign, etc.

Etymology: A metaphorical use of a military phrase whose literal meaning is 'a naturally elevated area providing a strategic advantage to the side which occupies it in a battle'.

History and Usage: The American writer Tom Wolfe attributes this figurative use to Lyndon Johnson in a speech about the US space programme in the late fifties, in which he supposedly said punningly that whoever controlled the high ground of space would control the world; however, although this was certainly the sentiment of his speech, it is not clear whether he actually

used the phrase high ground. High ground really only became a

popular political catch-phrase in the eighties; it is used mainly by journalists to describe a position which gives an individual or party the greatest visibility or appearance of

right-mindedness in a debate--a position which might or might not accord with any absolute notions of rightness. As such, it seems to fit in well with the excessively opinion-conscious politics of the eighties. Often it is preceded by an explanatory adjective such as moral, intellectual, or electoral.

Her [Nancy Reagan's] seizure of the high ground in the fight against drug abuse has done much to reverse her immense unpopularity.

The Times 9 Jan. 1987, p. 7

Why didn't he take the high ground, and argue in favour of universal state benefits and services as ends in themselves?

Sunday Telegraph 30 Oct. 1988, p. 24

highlighter

noun (Lifestyle and Leisure)

A marker which overlays a printed or written word with a semi-transparent, usually fluorescent, line of colour, leaving it legible but emphasized in the text.

Etymology: Derived from the verb to highlight in the sense 'to make prominent, to draw attention to', by adding the agent suffix -er. Originally the word was in the respelt form

Hi-liter, a US trade mark.

History and Usage: The trade mark was registered in the mid sixties in the US, and by the mid seventies the word in its standard spelling was catching on as a generic term. Highlighters in a very wide range of fluorescent colours became available and proved popular for all sorts of business uses from marking important activities and engagements in one's Filofax to picking out new words and senses in printed sources for lexicographers. The verb highlight was reinvented as a back-formation in the sense 'to mark with a highlighter'; other derivatives include highlighting as a verbal noun.

Simply find the hidden words...and then circle or highlight them.

Country Walking Jan. 1990, p. 16

'Bring me,' she cried, 'a highlighter.' She tinted the discrepancies between her text and the solicitor's in feverish, fluorescent yellow.

Observer Magazine 25 Mar. 1990, p. 42

high-tack (Lifestyle and Leisure) see tack

high-tech adjective and noun Also written hi-tech (Lifestyle and Leisure) (Science and Technology)

adjective: Making use of or provided with technological innovations, especially microelectronics or computers; automated, advanced.

noun: Technological hardware, automation; also, a style of sparse, functional design that embodies the modern technological ethos.

Etymology: Abbreviated forms of high technology.

History and Usage: The phrase started to be used as an adjective in the early seventies, when electronics began to

affect consumer goods and the design of homes, taking over from the phrase with all mod cons (that is, modern conveniences). As a name for a style of design, high-tech only remained in fashion for a relatively short time; the adjective, though, and the associated noun in the sense of 'technological gadgetry' have

remained very common throughout the eighties. So popular was the term in the early eighties that some considered it to have

become more or less meaningless; it was also at this time that it acquired a jocular opposite, low-tech (which usually implied complete absence of technology).

High-tech laid low: A ruptured $900 gasket dooms

Challenger..., while a Soviet nuclear reactor at

Chernobyl melts down.

Life Fall 1989, p. 26

The natural childbirth movement attempts to redress the 'high-tech' approach to childbirth.

Dorothy Judd Give Sorrow Words (1989), p. 9

Among the hi-tech companies to have prospered is Microvitec, whose technological prowess enabled it to take off with the home and education computing boom for a placing on the USM.

Intercity Apr. 1990, p. 35

Textbooks are unglamorous, low-tech.

Times Educational Supplement 14 Sept. 1990, p. 19

himbo noun (People and Society)

In media slang, a young man whose main asset is good looks, but who lacks depth and intelligence; the male equivalent of a bimbo.

Etymology: Punningly formed on bimbo, by replacing the first syllable with the rhyming syllable him (the accusative form of the masculine personal pronoun he).

History and Usage: A journalistic creation of the late eighties which probably has less chance of surviving in the language than bimbo, but is given motivation by the fact that bimbo is now overwhelmingly applied to women. (Compare bimboy at bimbo.)

Sex was commonplace, from a Melanie Griffith look-alike stuffed into her gown like salami in spandex to the

macho himbo who strutted the Croisette wearing a 16-foot python like a stole around his shoulders.

Washington Post 29 May 1988, section F, p. 1

The recent spate of kiss-and-tell memoirs by various bimbos and their male counterparts, himbos, throws even