CBS will present two new comedies tonight. At least I think they're comedies. That's what the press releases from the network say they are. It's good to have a visual aid sometimes. First up is "Fast Times," airing from 7 to 7:30 on WBBM-Channel 2, followed by "Tough Cookies" from 7:30 to 8. "Fast Times," best described as a zit-com, is loosely based on the movie "Fast Times at Ridgemont High."
—Daniel Ruth, "`Fast Times': CBS hits a new slow," Chicago Sun-Times, March 5, 1986
The word
zit — a pimple — entered the language around 1966 (the Oxford English Dictionary lists its etymology as "origin unknown") and has been going strong ever since. Most new dictionaries have an entry for it, and it pops up even in the most august publications (for example, it has made appearances in
The New York Times and
The Washington Post this year). It's a homely little word, but perhaps that's the secret of its success: it just feels like the right word for what it describes (unlike, say, the euphemistic
blemish).
Its role in today's word — blending with sitcom (1964; short for situation comedy) — is obvious enough, considering that teenagers are acne's target market.
