# Words coined by famous people **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 15, 2013, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-coined-by-famous-people/658389 "2013-05-15T10:41:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2013, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-coined-by-famous-people/658389/21 "2013-05-15T21:30:49Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#): > > Nucelar - George W. Bush Your wit and originality in this political jab at the supposed illiteracy of George W. Bush is impressive. Plus it is not even OP correct, because your assumed word has not entered any lexicon besides that you carry in your head. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2013, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-coined-by-famous-people/658389/22 "2013-05-15T22:00:40Z")
Do names count? J.R. Barrie coined (or at least popularized) the girl’s name name “Wendy,” and “Vanessa” was a name invented by Jonathan Swift that he derived from his friend Esther Vanhomrigh (Van + Essa). ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2013, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-coined-by-famous-people/658389/23 "2013-05-15T22:06:04Z")
Accoding to [this article](http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/23/opinion/23brooks.html?_r=2&ref=opinion&), Dr. Seuss’s _If I Ran The Zoo_ is the first printed use of the word “nerd” in modern English. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2013, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-coined-by-famous-people/658389/24 "2013-05-15T22:18:17Z")
Thought of a couple: Jeremy Bentham coined “utilitarian” and “utilitarianism,” and Auguste Comte coined “altruism.” ---
**Author:** ![Saltire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saltire/32/553_2.png) [@Saltire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saltire)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2013, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-coined-by-famous-people/658389/25 "2013-05-15T22:21:40Z")
> [@Ignotus](#): > > “Gas” (J.B. van Helmont, Flemish scientist) > “Catalyst” (J.J. Berzelius, Swedish chemist) > “Robot” (K. Capek, Czech writer) Isaac Asimov created the word for the discipline ‘robotics’ as well as the adjective ‘robotic’ unintentionally. He knew of ‘robot’ and just assumed the other words existed. But he was the first to use them. He was very proud to appear a few times in the OED. I think he was also mentioned for ‘psychohistory,’ though he wasn’t actually first with that one. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2013, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-coined-by-famous-people/658389/26 "2013-05-15T22:37:10Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#): > > Nucelar - George W. Bush [moderator note] Political jabs are not allowed in GQ. Don’t do this again. [/moderator note] ---
**Author:** ![Flywheel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Flywheel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flywheel)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2013, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-coined-by-famous-people/658389/27 "2013-05-15T23:21:23Z")
Gelett Burgess (author of “The Purple Cow”) coined “blurb.” ---
**Author:** ![Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellis_Aponte_Jr)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2013, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-coined-by-famous-people/658389/28 "2013-05-15T23:29:45Z")
[Similar thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=556720) ---
**Author:** ![lisiate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f05b48/32.png) [@lisiate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisiate)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2013, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-coined-by-famous-people/658389/29 "2013-05-15T23:33:56Z")
Shakespeare gets credited with a bunch, although many are probably just the first recorded use of those particular words in English. Here’s [a list of 20](http://mentalfloss.com/article/48657/20-words-we-owe-william-shakespeare) including belongings, new-fangled and eventful. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2013, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-coined-by-famous-people/658389/30 "2013-05-15T23:55:48Z")
[QUOTE=dtilique] The most famous word coiner I know of is Thomas Jefferson, who coined dime, although he spelled it “disme” (the S was silent). [/QUOTE] Jefferson didn’t coin “dime” (I saw what you did there 😛 ). It’s a very old English word, traceable through French and back to Latin, as shown in the [Merriam-Webster definition of “dime”](http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dime): > [@](#): > > Origin of DIME > > Middle English, tenth part, tithe, from Anglo-French _disme_, _dime_, from Latin _decima_, from feminine of _decimus_ tenth, from _decem_ ten In Quebec, it was used to refer, not to coinage, but to tithes owed to the Church, as “_dîme_” - the circumflex showing the “s” which had gradually dropped out of the French pronunciation. Jefferson may have popularised the use of the word to refer to a 10 cent piece? ---
**Author:** ![JBDivmstr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b4bc9f/32.png) [@JBDivmstr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JBDivmstr)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2013, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-coined-by-famous-people/658389/31 "2013-05-16T00:02:54Z")
[quote=“Omar\_Little, post:18, topic:658389”] Nucelar - George W. Bush[/QUOTE I thought it sounded more like, nuc-you-ler. 😛 My dear old (R.I.P.) Dad, used to say it like G.W., too. ---
**Author:** ![Civil\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d78d45/32.png) [@Civil\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Civil_Guy)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2013, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-coined-by-famous-people/658389/32 "2013-05-16T03:55:15Z")
I believe that Jimmy Carter may have had difficulties with pronouncing nuclear, as well. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2013, 9:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-coined-by-famous-people/658389/33 "2013-05-16T09:49:25Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > [William Whewell](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Whewell#Whewell.27s_neologisms) (who may not be very famous now, but was in his day), coined the words **scientist** , **physicist** , and probably **ion** , **anode** , and **cathode** (amongst others), all in the first half of the 19th century. I knew about him coining **physicist** , but his name didn’t mean anything to me. So I didn’t consider him to be famous. > [@](#): > > The poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge coined the verb **to visualize** (also in the early 19th century). Ok, but adding established English suffixes and prefixes to established English words to make fairly obvious derivations is not exactly a major linguistic accomplishment. This also applies to Asimov coining robotics. Verbing nouns falls into the same category (Jefferson/neologize). > [@Chefguy](#): > > Stephen Colbert coined “truthiness”, which has become part of the lexicon and is in Merriam’s dictionary. Ooh, good one. At first blush this may seem to contradict the above remarks. But this word is not that obvious, in my opinion anyway. YMMV. OK, it’s getting late here and I’m overdue for bed, so I’ll save my remarks about some of the other responses until tomorrow. But thanks for everyone’s contribution. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2013, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-coined-by-famous-people/658389/34 "2013-05-16T11:28:57Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Robert Heinlein coined “waldo” for a device to manipulate things by remote control, in a story by that title. I don’t know if the term is still in use today, though. I’ve seen it used as recently as within the last ten years. Movie Special Effects teams use waldos to manipulate sets that are built on gimbals. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2013, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-coined-by-famous-people/658389/35 "2013-05-16T13:11:43Z")
> [@pravnik](#): > > Do names count? J.R. Barrie coined (or at least popularized) the girl’s name name “Wendy,” and “Vanessa” was a name invented by Jonathan Swift that he derived from his friend Esther Vanhomrigh (Van + Essa). Um..make that “J.M. Barrie.” Heh. ---
**Author:** ![cougar58](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@cougar58](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cougar58)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2013, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-coined-by-famous-people/658389/36 "2013-05-16T13:34:57Z")
Raphael Lemkin coined the word “genocide” to describe the Nazi actions in WW2, as well as the Ottoman (Turkey) actions in the Armenian Genocide of Syrian Christians, Greeks and Armenians, which Turkey flat out denies to this day. In fact, the Armenian Genocide is the first recorded genocide in history. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2013, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-coined-by-famous-people/658389/37 "2013-05-16T13:41:18Z")
> [@cougar58](#): > > In fact, the Armenian Genocide is the first recorded genocide in history. Hardly. See [Genocides in History](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genocides_in_history#Before_1490), which includes references to the Hebrews killing off the Amalekites and Midianites, the Romans destroying Carthage, killing/enslaving the Carthaginians and sowing the ground with salt, etc. ---
**Author:** ![cougar58](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@cougar58](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cougar58)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2013, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-coined-by-famous-people/658389/38 "2013-05-16T14:12:44Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Hardly. See [Genocides in History](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genocides_in_history#Before_1490), which includes references to the Hebrews killing off the Amalekites and Midianites, the Romans destroying Carthage, killing/enslaving the Carthaginians and sowing the ground with salt, etc. I stand corrected, but per your link: " The Armenian Genocide is acknowledged to have been one of the earliest modern genocides" ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2013, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-coined-by-famous-people/658389/39 "2013-05-16T15:23:25Z")
The destruction of the American Indian population is I believe the largest in percentage of population lost in modern times–I think. Obviously that’s a different thread. ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2013, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-coined-by-famous-people/658389/40 "2013-05-16T15:33:37Z")
Malaprop comes from a name of a character in a Charles Dickens story. Shylock and Sherlock used to be popular. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-coined-by-famous-people/658389.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-coined-by-famous-people/658389.md?page=3)