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Books where a phrase was first coined

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    Books where a phrase was first coined

    Being awarded a Pulitzer, Man Booker or a Nobel Prize? Sure, that's a high level of recognition I reckon.
    I wonder though, whether the greatest award as an author isn't when a phrase you coined in a book, becomes something used in everyday language?

    Read by chance (a quiz) that "dark horse" first appeared in The Young Duke by Benjamin Disraeli.
    Never read the book, never heard of Disraeli. My ignorance and not something to brag about.
    Looking up who he is, as you tend to do if your interests stray further than following the Kardashian's on TV, he was to become Prime Minister of GB after writing it and disliked the novel himself.

    Still, he must have been a bit proud that "dark horse" became commonly used in language?

    [Fill in with other phrases and books]

    #2
    Shakespeare aside (as that would take a thread of its own), Catch 22 is the one that immediately springs to mind

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      #3
      I actually thought of Catch 22 right after posting but the fool that I am, I couldn't remember the name of the author and didn't want to cheat by Wikipeeding.
      I've read the book once, back in the late 80's as an extra school assigmnet. Didn't like it at all because it was sold to me by my teacher as very funny and I didn't even smile once. I guess the humor flew way over my head.

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        #4
        Nineteen Eighty-Four gave us Big Brother, Thought Police, Room 101 and more.
        Last edited by Ray de Galles; 09-01-2019, 14:14.

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          #5
          Though as I recently discovered, the Japanese had their own real Thought Police before WWI.

          Special Higher Police (特別高等警察 Tokubetsu Kōtō Keisatsu), often shortened to Tokkō (特高 Tokkō), was a police force established in 1911 in Japan, specifically to investigate and control political groups and ideologies deemed to be a threat to public order. Its main function was as a civilian counterpart to the military's Kempeitai and Tokkeitai, and it can be considered roughly equivalent to the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the United States in terms of combining both criminal investigation and counter-espionage functions. It has been less charitably compared to the Nazi Gestapo secret police. The Tokkō was also known as the Peace Police (治安警察 Chian Keisatsu) or more notoriously by the term Thought Police (思想警察 Shisō Keisatsu)

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            #6
            I believe John Le Carré and presumably Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy coined the by now familiar definition of mole as a deep-lying spy.

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              #7
              Yes, though Le Carré said that he nicked it from Russian intelligence, and it had in fact been used by Sir Francis Bacon (a fact that Le Carré was not aware of when he wrote Tinker)

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                #8
                Originally posted by Ray de Galles View Post
                Nineteen Eighty-Four gave us Big Brother, Thought Police, Room 101 and more.
                Orwell also gave us "All animals (people) are equal, but some are more equal than others," in Animal Farm.

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                  #9
                  Oh, cheers for that UA.

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                    #10
                    Always a pleasure.

                    Bacon is an amazing figure.

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                      #11
                      Nerd

                      Pandemonium

                      Cyberspace

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                        #12
                        Character names or types now used to mean ‘that kind of person’:
                        Lolita;
                        Walter Mitty;
                        Bond villain (arguably more cinema’s fault than Fleming’s)

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                          #13
                          Man Friday
                          Two Nations Also Disraeli
                          Scrooge

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                            #14
                            Svengali
                            Gradgrind
                            Robot
                            Eyeore-ish

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                              #15
                              Originally posted by Ray de Galles View Post
                              Nineteen Eighty-Four gave us Big Brother, Thought Police, Room 101 and more.
                              I'd have gone for Nineteen Eighty-four as well. Even the term "It's like Nineteen Eighty-four."

                              Doublethink is another phrase that entered the lexicon. And Newspeak often gets referenced by op ed columnists.

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                                #16
                                Originally posted by diggedy derek View Post
                                I believe John Le Carré and presumably Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy coined the by now familiar definition of mole as a deep-lying spy.
                                Also "tradecraft" and possibly "lamplighter"?

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                                  #17
                                  "Generation X" from the book by Canadian Douglas Coupland.

                                  The term had been used before, but his 1991 novel gave us its current association.
                                  Last edited by KyleRoteJr.; 14-04-2019, 09:37. Reason: Coupland not Copeland

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                                    #18
                                    "He/She who shall not be named" from the Harry Potter series seems to be fairly common usage for an unpopular/disgraced person now.

                                    I certainly use it about one of Mrs D's friends, of whom you could say "we don't get on".

                                    Not sure if Rowling nicked it from somewhere else though.

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                                      #19
                                      Originally posted by jwdd27 View Post
                                      "He/She who shall not be named" from the Harry Potter series seems to be fairly common usage for an unpopular/disgraced person now.

                                      I certainly use it about one of Mrs D's friends, of whom you could say "we don't get on".

                                      Not sure if Rowling nicked it from somewhere else though.
                                      Tolkien?

                                      Who nicked it from church lore.

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                                        #20
                                        Originally posted by KyleRoteJr. View Post
                                        "Generation X" from the book by Canadian Douglas Coupland.

                                        The term had been used before, but his 1991 novel gave us its current association.
                                        I like how you included the detail "Canadian" so we didn't confuse him with all the other Douglas Couplands.

                                        That book also contained the word "McJob" to describe minimum wage dead end service industry employment. McDonald's actually ran a recruitment campaign refuting the idea of McJobs.

                                        I think Coupland tried to do the same thing for the tech industry with the word 'Microserfs' but that didn't catch on.

                                        The best phrase in Generation X is "Nostalgia is a weapon."

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