Vol. 10 · Portmanteaus ·Late 20th century ·1992
Frankenfood
Frankenstein food
- Meaning
- A pejorative for genetically modified food.
- Source words
- Frankenstein + food
- Coined by
- Paul Lewis
- Year
- 1992
Background
Lewis, a Boston College English professor, used the word in a letter to the *New York Times* opposing the FDA's 1992 decision not to label GM foods. The word spread so fast it shaped the transatlantic regulatory divergence that followed.
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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