Although the word salty is accepted in the Oxford English Dictionary as American slang, it is so widely used, it’s status should be upgraded to Standard American English.

     When I hear the word “salty” describe someone, I think of a person who is unpleasant, highly irritated, and generally pretty angry.  Salty people are those individuals who are hard to spend much time with, because before you know it you too are feeling a little salty for having to be in their presence.  A person also does not have to be salty all the time to earn this label. Given the right circumstances one mishap can cause a person to temporarily become salty (i.e. extreme cases of road rage, losing a competition, an unpleasant encounter with a stranger…) For example, the other day my boyfriend and I ventured to the other side of the city to visit friends. We were both in high spirits before getting lost for over an hour in an area unfamiliar to us.  While I insisted on stopping for help, he refused to pull over for directions. His opposition and my anxiousness to arrive at our destination caused me to become salty.  I began to answer him sharply or not at all.  Noting my annoyed and angry attitude, Justin asked me, “If I pull over will you get rid of that salty attitude?” I agreed and attempted to stop being so irritated.

      Originally, salty was used as an adjective describing the taste of salt.  As cited in the Oxford English Dictionary, this usage dates back to 1440 in the Promptorium Parvulorum  (the first English-Latin Dictionary). In 1866, salty was used to describe sharpness or raciness.  The Oxford English Dictionary used salty as an adjective to explain the shrewd contents of a book.  “This… only makes the books more salty, that the piquancy is not diminshed…” The word salty evolved in the 1920’s to describe an aggressive and tough U.S. sailor.  The sea going men probably associated the distinct bitterness of salt with personalities that were also distinct and strong.  In 1944, the adjective was accepted from the nautical community as U.S. slang.  The Oxford English Dictionary noted that Hepster’s Dictionary used salty to describe, “ an angry and ill tempered individual.”  From then to now the word’s meaning has stayed approximately the same.  Salty describes a personality that is bitter or angry, irritated, and hard to take. The only update in usage was that the word could be used to describe someone whose outlook has currently “jumped salty.”

      The word salty is used and understood by all generations living in the United States today as describing a person’s unpleasant and rough attitude. Due to its long history and logical evolution, almost everyone can make the association between the bitter taste of salty foods and a hard to take (salty) attitude. In my opinion telling someone they’ve become salty is much kinder and easier then informing them they are being a bitch. Salty has earned its position in Standard English by tactfully describing all those unpleasant and irritated individuals that surround us everyday.  Using the adjective salty rather than one of the many words often used to describe an unpleasant person has probably prevented a few black eyes.  So to show your appreciation I urge lexicographers everywhere to include salty as Standard English for the people.