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Originally Posted by DustyDeviada  "cob-nobbling", ha. I don't know what it means, but it sounds damn good.  |
The history of cob-nobbling is long and complex.
The roots of the term lie with the New York Times, if I remember correctly. When 'Nevermind' went to no1 in America, and grunge became the word on everyone's lips, the New York Times contacted the offices of Sub Pop to get the lowdown on this new musical development. However, rather than getting through to Bruce Pavitt or Jonathon Ponemann, they got through to someone who worked in their distribution department.
Seeing an opportunity for a jape, the girl they spoke to gave an entirely ficticous history of grunge. The highlight of the article was a selection of completely made up 'grunge slang terms' that young hipsters in Seattle would use. For me, the most memorable one was 'cob-nobbler', which refers to someone who is a loser.
Actually, here is a full article on the subject (which includes a few details that are different from my history, mainly becuase I couldn't remember it).
Grungegate
other brilliant terms include 'lame-stain', 'wack slacks', and 'swinging on the flippity-flop'.