Airminded: the ngram

23 December 2010 in 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, After 1950, Words by Brett Holman | 1 comment

airminded,1920-2000

Following Ross' suggestion I've plugged airminded itself into the Google Ngram Viewer (for British English over 1920-2000 with a smoothing of 3). The word wasn't used until c. 1925 and grew in popularity until the end of the Second World War. It then began its long descent. Around 1960 its heyday was definitely over and by the late 1990s it was less popular than almost ever before. There's a noticeable dip in the years around 1940, which makes me wonder if the menace of aviation had temporarily overwhelmed its promise. But that's probably reading too much into it.

    1. JDK’s avatar

      JDK on 24 December 2010 at 10:02 am

      I think you finished the post a little soon: "...with a remarkable late peak between ~oh~ about 2005 and 2010...."

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