Coinages (part two)

Bapopik at AOL.COM Bapopik at AOL.COM
Thu Jan 20 16:12:41 UTC 2000


     More coinages (citations on the Dow Jones database of "coined the
word").   These may or may not be correct.

08-23-1984, DALLAS MORNING NEWS, pg. 22A--He said the non-profit North Texas
Commission--which coined the word "metroplex" in 1971...

03-01-1985, GLOBE AND MAIL, pg. P7--Salem Alaton's article on the National
Film Board...says "The NFB was where founder John Grierson coined the word
'documentary.'"  The NFB has many accomplishments to its credit, but that
isn't one of them.  The biographies and standard reference books (such as the
Harper Dictionary of Modern Thought) note that Mr. Grierson was indeed the
first to use that word--but when reviewing Robert Flaherty's Moana in 1926, a
decade and a half before Grierson founded the film board in Canada.  (Ayto's
20TH CENTURY WORDS has 1930 and 1932--ed.)

03-24-1985, SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, pg. G4--Although he's never been shy, a
few years back his person life made the front pages of the local newspaper.
It resulted in lots of whispered conversation and (Mel--ed.) Haber claims it
was he who coined the word "palimony."

05-04-1985, LOS ANGELES TIMES, home, pg. 7--Arichibald Crossley, Early
Pollster, Dies. (...)  Crossley, who was believed to have coined the word
"ratings"...

11-16-1986, THE RECORD (NJ), pg. 8--Will Vinton, who coined the word
claymation...

06-07-1987, SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE, pg. 3--...(Alice--ed.) Kahn is best
known beyond the Bay Area as the columnist who first coined the word
"yuppie"...

08-05-1987, BATON ROUGE MORNING ADVOCATE, pg. 12B--Rear Admiral Poindexter
mutilated the Constitution by substituting "deniability" for the
"accountability" (...).  The newly coined word "deniability" has not yet
found its place in standard English dictionaries; it simply means creating a
loophole for the president (for that matter for any person with
responsibility) to lie without being accused of lying.

04-01-1989, CONSUMER ELECTRONICS, pg. 28--"50 Years of TV: 1939-1989" by
David Lachenbruch.  (...)   I particularly like the camcorder as a major new
development in TV-video, since I coined the name back in the early 1970s to
apply to the growing category of combination camera-recorders used in the
broadcast field. (So please think of me when you use the word "camcorder.")
(...) Remember, I'm the guy who coined the word "camcorder."  The initials
"VCR" as well, if you really want to know.

04-09-1989, AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN, pg. 55--"Joe was the movie (1970
release--ed.) that coined the word 'hard hat.'"  (RHHDAS had three May 1970
citations, but doesn't mention this source--ed.)

05-01-1989, GANNETT NEWS SERVICE--Often in New York media circles, those who
want to be on the cutting edge read book reviews, listen to gossip about
authors, see movies based on books.  New York magazine has even coined a word
for this phenomenon:  "bullcrit."  (Not in RHHDAS--ed.)

02-02-1990, STAR-TRIBUNE (TWIN CITIES), pg. 14A--About 30 years ago, a
reporter in New York named Joe Shannon coined a word--BOMFOG--that has long
since become a staple of the lexicon of American politics.  The acronym came
from a phrase that the late Nelson Rockefller used repeatedly in almost every
speech: "The brotherhood of man under the fatherhood of God."  (See Safire's
POLITICAL DICTIONARY and the RHHDAS--neither work mentions Shannon--ed.)

03-15-1990, JERUSALEM POST, pg. 4--I am the person who coined this word
(refusenik--ed.) and first used it in 1971.  (...)  And after my writing to
them, the publishers of Webster's (Collegiate and International), Random
House, and the OED have all accepted my definition as above, have promised to
correct it in the next edition, and also accept that the occasionally seen
refusnik is not an alternative but a misspelling.  MICHAEL SHERBOURNE,
London.  (Ayto's 20TH CENTURY WORDS starts with "refusnik" in 1975--ed.)

03-30-1990, GANNETT NEWS SERVICE--Soon, she (Nanci Griffith--ed.) was carving
a niche so unusual that she coined the word "folkabilly."

08-01-1990, NATION'S BUSINESS, pg. 33--It was (Bob--ed.) Wallace who coined
the word "shareware" to describe the marketing concept of "you try before you
buy."

02-02-1991, KANSAS CITY STAR, pg. B4--In fact, (Clifton C.--ed.) Edom and a
late Missouri journalism dean, Frank Luther Mott, coined the word
photojournalism.

05-06-1991, MEDIAWEEK, pg. 16--In any case, leave it to Milton Berle--who
notes he was the one who first coined the word "stand-up" in 1942--to score
the big one-liner for topic No. 2: "The trouble with stand-ups today is that
that's all they do...stand up."

07-12-1991, FORT WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM, pg. 13--It was Clifton ( Chenier--ed.)
who, some years ago, coined the word "zydeco" to describe the
accordion-driven bayou hybrid music he popularized.

01-31-1992, LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL, pg. 5B--The man who coined the word
"privatization" told legislators Thursday that govenrments can save 10
percent to 40 percent by contracting with private companies to provide
services traditionally performed by govenrment.  Robert Poole, Reason
Foundation president and a former presidential consultant... (...) Poole said
he coined the word "privatization" in 1978 and wishes now that there was a
simpler word to describe what he means.

3-1-1992, FUTURES, pg. 46--His work soon was recognized nationwide, and
(James H.--ed.) Sibbet was invited to speak at (Humphrey B.--ed.) Neill's
contrary opinion forum in Vermont in 1967.  In his lecture Sibbet coined the
word "contrarian," which now appears in Merriam-Webster's unabridged
dictionary.

To be continued.



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