Vol. 10 · Portmanteaus ·Contemporary (2000–) ·2014
Manspread
man spread
- Meaning
- The practice of men sitting with legs wide apart, occupying adjacent seats.
- Source words
- man + spread
- Coined by
- collective
- Year
- 2014
Background
Coined on Tumblr in 2013–14 during New York subway-etiquette debates. Added to the Oxford English Dictionary in 2015 — one of the fastest portmanteau admissions on record.
Contemporary (2000–)
Faster coinage, faster canonisation. Brexit and podcast both reached the OED within a decade of first use — historically rapid. Social media has made visibility, not invention, the rate-limiting step.
Two words, one coinage.
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