Agency invents word to sell dictionaries

McCann Melbourne is hoping ‘phubbing’—its word for snubbing someone in person while directing all one’s attention to a smartphone—will catch on.

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That’s called “phubbing,” a melding of “phone” and “snubbing”; its etymology finds its source in a marketing ploy.

McCann Melbourne (Australia) has been promoting the coinage as a way to help sell copies of the Macquarie Dictionary of Australia.

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