A click as a noun is a small, sharp sound. It is usually metallic, although it can be made against other hard things. This is the common meaning I found and it is usually accompanied by an adjective like sharp, faint, or loud. As a verb it is usually to make the clicking sound. However, there are also other meanings. The OED listed that it could mean to become pregnant or to get killed.

When you meet someone you immediately get along with it is said that the two of you “click.” I found this usage by looking for he|she|they|we|I [click]and found it in 2009, number 79. However, most uses found were about someone clicking something.

Click overall has shown a steady increase in usage. Noun and verb follow those results.

Collocates between 1880-1900 and 1980-2000.

Nearby Nouns:

1880-1900 1980-2000

1	INSTRUMENT	1	MOUSE
2	HAMMERS	2	PHONE
3	BILLIARD	3	BUTTON
4	HOOFS	4	MACHINE
5	SNOWSHOES	5	TAB
6	TELEGRAPH	6	SCREEN
7	PISTOLS	7	LIGHT
8	BALL	8	RADIO
9	GUN-LOCK	9	COMPUTER
10	INSTANT	10	LINE

It used to be strictly the sound that was used. The balls clicked together or the hammers clicked. But this list shows that today we click a mouse or click on something on the computer.

Nearby Verbs:

1880-1900 1980-2000

1	UTTERED	1	'S
2	FELL	2	GET
3	MET	3	HAS
4	SOUNDED	4	GO
5	CAME	5	HAVE
6	STOOD	6	'RE
7	WENT	7	DO
8	HEARD	8	OPEN
9	CLOSED	9	HANGS
10	FOLLOWED	10	'D

Again, the sound is used at the beginning. They heard a click, they came clicking. Now we "go click" something although we still hear the click of the phone as we hang up.

Adjectives:

1880-1900 1980-2000

1	SHARP	1	OPEN
2	LITTLE	2	SHUT
3	FAINT	3	DEAD
		4	AUDIBLE
		5	NEW
		6	METALLIC
		7	ANSWERING
		8	OTHER
		9	REMOTE
		10	SATISFYING

Click wasn’t used much in the first century but usage hasn’t changed much otherwise. From 1880 to 1900 the adjectives all relate to sound. In 1980 to 2000 there is still sound, but there is also “click open” or “click shut”. I was curious about dead, and found that all uses there were referring to the telephone clicking dead.

Cowardice

Gutless: originated from the term guts to mean someone who has no guts or courage. Ayto lists that this slang came into use in 1900, but COHA has its first instance in 1945. Gutless is used in its literal meaning a couple times in COHA (including 1941) and a book uses it as a proper noun in 1995, but overall it has had a slow increase in usage since then.

Yellow bellied: Yellow bell* has one instance in 1954. For [yellow-bell*] usage Ayto says it first occurred in 1924 and COHA has use in fiction in 1912 with its next usage in 1924. Usage is almost equally mixed with its literal meaning.

Chicken is the name of an animal and is thus used a lot. However, there are some early cases that are phrased much like we would use them today as the figurative slang. It is used in reference to the way a chicken would act, that is cowardly. Ayto has 1933 for the adjectival use of chicken. COHA has 1815. For [pp*] [be] chicken the first figurative usage is recorded in 1945 with “you’re chicken.” The 1960s use is mostly figurative while other decades are mainly literal.

Milky originated from the use of the word milk as mildness or weakness. Ayto says it first occurred in this sense in 1936. In COHA there are cases of use of milky in a figurative sense from 1811.

Punk out is to lose one’s nerve. COHA has two instances from 1995 and COCA has a few more starting in 1991. Ayto says that its use started in 1920 in the US, but I was unable to find anything else. The earliest use was actually found in 1958 according to the TIME corpus.

Wimp out has the same meaning as punk out except the word wimp suggests a feeble person. Ayto gives its arise in 1981 which all three corpora agree with since the earliest once shows in 1989. It has increased in use, but the numbers are so low it doesn’t give much statistical evidence. COHA COCA TIME

Fraidy-cat [fraidy cat] and scaredy-cat [scaredy cat] are both used rather sporadically. Scaredy-cat was used first in the 1910s, fraidy-cat in the 1940s. Both are mainly used by children.

If you are in a blue funk you are afraid. Ayto gives first usage as 1861. It first shows up in COHA in 1868 and though it does continue, it doesn’t have high numbers.

Funky came from the word funk which in the earlier sense meant fear. Ayto dates this at 1860 and in COHA it shows up in 1861. Afterwards though, while some do maintain this meaning, it also means something strange or bad like a funky smell or taste. Usage has increased but it is likely due to the other meanings.

Another word
Squib was a word for a coward dated 1918 in Australia. I didn’t find any usage for this meaning. It usually means a type of publication.

Politically Correct

In an effort to remove offensive terms from our vocabulary, English began to adhere to a politically correct standard in the 1970s. For example, we no longer call people crippled, but handicapped. There are some terms that have fully developed into modern day use, as handicapped did, there are others that make us wonder if we’re trying a little too hard, and there are those in between.

[adverb] Challenged is used to reference a person with almost any sort of disability. All links will be to COCA as it has more occurrences. A poor person is financially challenged, a short person is vertically challenged, a dumb person (not a politically correct term) is mentally, academically, or intellectually challenged (mentally challenged shows the highest usage and most increase). Other terms include physically challenged, ethically challenged, developmentally challenged, domestically challenged, and emotionally challenged. All of these challenges begin in the 1990s with varying success and limited usage.

• In the COCA these terms are spread differently. Physically and mentally challenged are in the top five of adverb challenge* terms instead of past 32 as they are in COHA. It also includes new terms including legally challenged, economically challenged, historically challenged, mathematically challenged, mechanically challenged, musically challenged, technically challenged, and calorically challenged.

Cripple* was used for someone who was physically handicapped. This sense is still used today but it is much less common than it used to be. In the last couple of decades the term has been used in the same sense in reference to people, but the sense has extended to reference organizations or systems like the U.S. health care system, schools, or the economy.

• Disabled or physically disabled are terms used to replace cripple. Physically disabled had its highest usage in the 1990s but is limited in use overall. Disabled can refer to more than just physically so the COHA doesn’t accurately describe its usage.
• Handicapped or physically handicapped. Handicapped is not strictly physical but its usage did peak in the 1970s when political correctness was increasing and its usage in COHA has since decreased in favor of other terms. Physically handicapped follows a very curve much like handicapped with a later beginning and earlier peak(1960s).
• Physically challenged [COCA], as said before, shows limited usage and only since the 1990s. Its usage has decreased.

Some people have issues of heightism [COCA], a term referring to those who prefer tall people to the vertically challenged. Heightism occurs once each in COHA and COCA in 1975 and 1990 respectively.

Ageism [COCA] is discrimination on the basis of age. Usually it is discrimination against those who are older. A few instances are in the COHA but the COCA has more and shows that usage has increased in the last five years.

• Gray hair usually indicates the old or getting older and its usage has increased.
• Salt and pepper [COCA] is common as the spice but also can also refer to the graying of a person’s hair, and thus their age. In 1921 and 1948 the term is used to describe a suit, but the first use in reference to hair is in 1954. Usage is rare in the COHA but shows increase of usage in the COCA.

An extreme case is the spelling of women [woman]. These typical spellings remain perfectly correct, but some women insist on different spellings because the words man or men are within the words and thus politically incorrect.

• Womyn [COCA] started in the 1990s and increased until the 2000-2004 time where it dropped to its lowest usage.
• Wymyn [COCA] Both databases have only one instance each, but the text is the same so it is only one instance (in 1997) recorded total.
• Wimmin [COCA] this last spelling is much more common but it’s more of a dialectal usage than politically correct. There are only a couple of references to the politically correct sense while the dialectal has been in use since 1840.

Honorable mention: none of these showed up in either corpus but deserved to be included.

• Sinistromanualistic: left-handed people
• Rectocentrism: “domination and oppression of sinistromanualistic people by the majority, who are right-handed” (Speaking Freely).
• Canine-American: an American dog
• Accommodationist: a traitor

The Korean War

The Korean Conflict occurred shortly after WWII. For 40 years previous to the war Korea had been under Japanese rule and it was agreed by the Allies that Korea would be freed to be an independent nation. It was decided that Russia would accept the surrender of Korea north of the 38th parallel and the U.S. would accept it in the south for symbolic purposes. However, once the surrenders were accepted the Soviets claimed that the 38th parallel was a division of two states and would not let Korea unite as one nation. Soon afterwards the People’s Democratic Republic of Korea and the Republic of Korea were created.

• North Korea is the unofficial name of the People’s Democratic Republic of Korea. Use of this term started in 1940 but really took off in 1950. It dropped in the next two decades but has since increased.
• South Korea is the unofficial name of the Republic of Korea. Usage follows that of North Korea except in the 1980s where usage spiked especially in 1983.

In 1950 North Korea invaded South Korea and the UN Security Council decided that they needed to be repelled and so the member nations of the UN were called upon. While a number of the nations did send some forces to assist, it was understood that America would be responsible for most of it.

• United Nations Forces were comprised of the soldiers from the UN nations. This term began in the 1940s, spiked in the 1950s, then dropped and steadily decreased since then. The usage in the 1950s is comprised mainly of one magazine but from different articles throughout the years.
• Congress called this time of fighting the Korean Conflict because we had not actually declared war. Usage has decreased steadily since its creation in the 1950s.
• Because we were not fighting a war as defined by congress, our actions were called police action under the UN’s authority. The phrase was in use before this time when referring to regular police officers. In the 1950s it began to be used in reference to the Korean War with scare quotes.
• Within a year of fighting America was calling it the Korean War, not a conflict like congress insisted. Usage for this is higher though it also is decreasing.

As the war went on Chinese volunteers joined the North Koreans and were named an aggressor too. Unfortunately, our forces were not allowed to go beyond a certain point and into China. General MacArthur disregarded this rule and the forces fought past those points.

• President Truman was determined not to start WWIII with China and Russia (since Russia also had atomic bombs by that point) and so settled for a divided Korea and to fight a limited war. Limited war had 7 occurrences in the previous 2 decades and spiked in the 1950s and 60s. Since then its use has been low.
  
• China called America a paper tiger. This is basically equivalent to our expression of his bark is worse than his bite.

In 1952 we began truce talks with the Communists.

• The UN suggested voluntary repatriation. Basically all prisoners that did not want to return to the country they were from would be released and all the remaining prisoners would be able to be sent back for repatriation at any time. They were interested in this but ultimately rejected it because over half of the 170,000 Communist POWs did not want to return home and would forcibly resist any attempt to send them. Some were allowed to go their way but 50,000 of them were forced home with the 75,000 who wanted to go in order to make a truce. Usage is minimal.
  
• A cease-fire was signed and Communist and UN forces called truce teams began to police the demilitarized zone. Usage is limited from the 1940s to 70s.
  
• DMZ was the abbreviation of demilitarized zone referring to the 38th parallel and the space on either side of it. Usage begins in the COHA in the 1960s speaking of Vietnam and drops the after 1980s.

Other terms became well known during the Korean War but many of them are actually from our postwar occupation of Japan.

• Brainwashing [brain wash*] was rather intense. It was first used “to refer to a combination of physical torture, threats, intimidation, promises, and around-the clock- indoctrination used by Communists to break down the loyalties of anti-communist resistance fighters” (Flexner). Usage started in the 1950s, increased until the 1970s, and then dropped and remained stable from then on.
  
• Some Americans were brainwashed to join China; others falsely confessed to carrying out germ warfare. During this time epidemics were sweeping through North Korea and the Communists were being blamed by the population so the communists brainwashed our pilots to shift the blame. Usage of germ warfare spiked in the 1950s and 70s but has otherwise remained low.

Civilian Life in 1940s

The Depression left many people without jobs, money, and sometimes even homes. Then, when we entered World War II, men enlisted in the military for the jobs provided as soldiers. Businesses began refocusing their efforts to build necessary items for war instead of toys or appliances. This shift in priorities opened up more jobs as they made an effort to increase production for the war. So the call came for women to take up the work.

• 
  Rosie the Riveter advertisements did much of the crying for workers, but the corpus has less than ten examples of it, starting in 1960. It would make sense for it to start in 1940 since it was a poster used during the war, but, perhaps because it was a common poster, no one thought to write about it. Regardless of how well the poster might have worked, women joined the work force and began to enjoy some financial security.
  

Unfortunately, though they had money, there wasn’t much for them to spend it on. The things they might have otherwise spent the money on, like toys or kitchen appliances, were no longer being made because of the shift in business. Rationing was put in effect for things like butter, bacon, and gasoline.

• 
  They were given ration books that had coupons for the now limited foods and tools. Usage for this in the corpus spiked high, or began high, in the 1940s likely because of the use of rationing. After the war ended ration books were no longer needed and thus later usage is due mainly to references about WWII.
• 
  People also began planting their own gardens, called victory gardens, to supplement their meals. This phrase also began in the 1940s, specifically 1942, and then dropped sharply in consequent years. Again, it is probably because victory gardens were no longer in use after the war.

People also wanted to help the war effort in other ways.

• 
  The government encouraged them to buy war bonds to help finance the war. Though there are references to war bonds in previous decades there is once again a sharp increase in the 1940s.
• 
  They participated in scrap drives where they would collect extra bits of steel, tin, paper, and rubber for use in war. Children played with wooden or paper toys instead of rubber or metal.

Another effect of the war on the home front was the concern people had that there were enemies within the nation. This fear was supported by history. A rebel general during the Spanish civil war was counting on four columns of troops outside the city and a fifth column made up of sympathizers within the city to help him win. When the Nazis took over Norway, a fifth column of supporters within the country was a large part of their victory. Civilians who wished to protect our nation against traitors and terrorists joined the civilian defense.

• 
  The fifth column [fifth column*](Ostler) has some usage in the 1800s but only as a fifth column on a page of data. In 1930 the second meaning comes into play in reference to Spain in 1930 before it is linked to the Nazis in WWII.
• 
  Civilian Defense shows up in the corpus in 1939 in a news article about Britain. In 1940 it is used in America many times but drops after that decade again due to the end of the war.
• 
  Individual traitors were called quisling (Ostler) after Vidkun Quisling, the head of the Nazi party in Norway. As with the others it was widely used in the 1940s and has steadily decreased.
• 
  Teenagers, the newly formed noun form of the adjective teenage, were not ignorant of these events. Students who were well thought of by teachers (teacher’s pets) were accused of “going quisling” (Ostler). Teenager has, since its beginning in 1940, increased steadily and become a common word in our vocabulary. The phrase going quisling was not found at all in COHA.

When the soldiers returned to civilian life after the war there was a lot of discomfort. Some soldiers did not come home at all, leaving young families behind. Others were severely wounded in body and/or soul, wounds that their wives were not equipped to deal with.

• 
  Battle fatigue, what would later be known as post traumatic stress, was common and difficult to understand. Again, usage started in the 1940s, this time after the war, but it is too low to show much definitive variation.

Fortunately, there were good things awaiting them too.

• 
  The GI Bill of Rights [GI Bill], also known as the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act, gave many men an opportunity for learning and college that they didn’t have before. This bill was created in the 1940s and has remained fairly constant despite a drop in the 1970s and 80s.

Other Terms

• 
  The atomic age began in 1945 when the first atomic bomb was detonated (Ostler). Although usage increased in the 1950s from the 1940s, it has since steadily declined.
• 
  Bobby socks [Bobby sox] were worn by teenage girls. Stockings were not available during the war so they began to wear loose ankle socks. This was seen as an act of rebellion and some girls wore them did get into trouble. These terms were occasionally used from the 1940s to the 1990s but no instances were recorded in COHA for the 2000s.
• 
  Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, made popular by Disney, came to mean something that was wonderful or fantastic in 1949. I could not find this in the COHA but the OED did have information on it.