Vol. 10 · Portmanteaus ·Mid-century: TV and science ·1973
Neocon
neo- conservative
- Meaning
- A conservative favouring assertive US foreign policy and democratic interventionism.
- Source words
- neo- + conservative
- Coined by
- Michael Harrington
- Year
- 1973
Background
Harrington, a democratic-socialist intellectual, used *neo-conservative* pejoratively in *Dissent* magazine to describe former liberals who had moved right. The faction adopted the label; the *neocon* clipping is 1980s journalistic shorthand.
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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