Origin of the slang "L7"
What's the origin of the (I believe Brit) slang "L7"?
In particular what decade (or even century) did this come from?
Region?
Footnote - entirely possible it is not British; IDK. Could have an earlier origin?
Solution 1:
Its origin appears to be from teen Black AmE, from the ‘50s. Is it used both as a noun and also as an adjective:
L-7 (noun) also l-seven
[the L and the 7 when put together form a SE square thus a pun on square n. (3b); the word can be accompanied by using thumb and forefinger extended at right angles, forming an L and a 7, and when the two are combined they form a square]
(US black/teen) a conventional, tedious person, unsympathetic to teen interests.
- 1956 Artie Shaw in West Coast Jazz 79: Hollywood’s latest lingo for a square: for an L and a 7 with your fingers and that’s what you get [W&F].
L-7 (adjective) also l-seven
(US black/teen) unfashionable, unsophisticated.
- 1972 D. Claerbaut Black Jargon in White America 71: L7 adj., completely out of style; not like the group.
(Green's Dictionary of Slang)
Solution 2:
According to a Reddit post
A square.. hence shape of L7 {}
the origin is that the two adjacent characters L7 looks kind of like a square.
It doesn't look very square when the riser of 7 is on an angle (as in most modern computer fonts), but if you write it vertically it's pretty close.
I found a number of references with definitions (Urban Dictionary, Dictionary of Slang) but they didn't offer origins.