[Ads-l] Word: kidult, noun (October 18, 1948)

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Recently I encountered the blend "kidult". OED has an entry.

[Begin excerpt]
kidult, n. and adj.
slang (orig. and chiefly U.S.). Frequently derogatory.
 A. n.
 a. A television programme, film, or other entertainment intended to
appeal to both children and adults.
b. A habitual viewer of this, spec. an adult with juvenile tastes.
B. adj.
  Designating or pertaining to entertainment of this kind.
[End excerpt]

The first OED citation (for any sense) is from 1960. Here is an
instance from 1948.

Date: October 18, 1948
Newspaper: Lincoln Evening Journal (Lincoln Journal Star)
Newspaper Location: Lincoln, Nebraska
Article: Advertisement for a radio program on KFOR broadcasting
"Streamlined Fairy Tales"
Quote Page 5
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/24128824/kidults/
[Begin excerpt]
FUN for Kiddies . . . . . . "Kidults" like them too!
[End excerpt]

WordSpy has an entry with a first citation in 1985. The late citation
may be because of a narrow meaning.
https://wordspy.com/index.php?word=kidult
[Begin excerpt]
kidult
n. A middle-aged person who continues to participate in and enjoy youth culture.
[End excerpt]

I encountered "kidult" in an essay about the cultural marginalization
of the literary novel.

Date: October 2018
Periodical: Harper's Magazine
Article: The Printed Word in Peril: The age of Homo virtualis is upon us
Author: Will Self
https://harpers.org/archive/2018/10/the-printed-word-in-peril/

[Begin excerpt]
The printed books being sold are not the sort of difficult reading
that spearheads knowledge transfer but picture books, kidult novels
like the Harry Potter series, and, in the case of my own UK publisher
at least, a great tranche of spin-off books by so-called vloggers (a
development Marshall ­McLuhan anticipated when he noted that new media
always cannibalize the forms of the past).
[End excerpt]

Garson

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