Vol. 10 · Portmanteaus ·Late 20th century ·1979
Affluenza
affluence influenza
- Meaning
- The sickness of wealth: restlessness, dissatisfaction, and debt among the well-off.
- Source words
- affluence + influenza
- Coined by
- Fred Whybrow (disputed)
- Year
- 1979
Background
First appears in US social-critique writing. Famously used as a legal defence in the 2013 trial of Ethan Couch in Texas, which made the word internationally notorious overnight.
Late 20th century
Marketing, media, and the early internet. Infomercial, emoticon, workaholic — the coinages name phenomena of mass media and white-collar life. Several predate the decades they're associated with.
Two words, one coinage.
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