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Curated category

1940s neologisms

  • RadarIn 1886, German physicist Heinrich Hertz demonstrated that radio waves could bounce off solid objects. This discovery laid the foundation for all future…
  • Cold WarOn the 5th of March 1946, former British prime minister Winston Churchill delivered a speech in Fulton, Missouri, that would define the opening chapter of…
  • GenocidePolish-Jewish lawyer Raphael Lemkin coined the term genocide between 1941 and 1943. He combined the Greek word genos, meaning race or people, with the Latin…
  • ExistentialismThe word existentialism did not exist in the 19th century. Gabriel Marcel, a French Catholic philosopher, coined the term in the mid-1940s to describe a…
  • Blockbuster (entertainment)In May 1943, advertisements in Variety and Motion Picture Herald described the RKO film Bombardier as "The block-buster of all action-thrill-service shows!"…
  • Iron CurtainTheater stages in the early twentieth century installed iron safety curtains to slow the spread of fire. This literal barrier became a metaphor for political…
  • SimulcastA press agent at WCAU-TV in Philadelphia coined the word simulcast in 1948. This portmanteau of simultaneous and broadcast described a new practice where…