Vol. 10 · Portmanteaus ·Late 20th century ·1980
Telemarketing
telephone marketing
- Meaning
- Selling goods or services by phone call.
- Source words
- telephone + marketing
- Coined by
- Nadji Tehrani
- Year
- 1980
Background
Tehrani founded *Telemarketing* magazine in 1982, popularising the word that had been circulating in US direct-sales circles since 1980. Regulation since the 1990s (US Do-Not-Call Registry, 2003) has squeezed the practice but not the word.
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.
Browse every portmanteau on the shelf — or cross over to the loanwords atlas.