Vol. 10 · Portmanteaus ·Mid-century: TV and science ·1959
Boatel
boat hotel
- Meaning
- A hotel on water, or moored boats rented as rooms.
- Source words
- boat + hotel
- Coined by
- unknown
- Year
- 1959
Background
A faddish 1950s tourism coinage on the model of *motel* (1925). Most historical boatels were converted barges on European canals; the word survives mainly on Amsterdam and Paris signage.
Mid-century: TV and science
Two engines dominated: television (sitcom, televangelist) and post-war big science (pulsar, transistor). Many mid-century coinages came from scientific style sheets and industry journals.
Two words, one coinage.
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