Vol. 10 · Portmanteaus ·Mid-century: TV and science ·1968
Chocoholic
chocolate alcoholic
- Meaning
- A person with a strong craving for chocolate.
- Source words
- chocolate + alcoholic
- Coined by
- unknown
- Year
- 1968
Background
The template -*aholic* (from *workaholic*, same year) became productive fast — *shopaholic*, *sexaholic*, *carboholic* followed. The clinical framing of ordinary preferences as addiction is the cultural marker of the era.
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.
Browse every portmanteau on the shelf — or cross over to the loanwords atlas.