Straight up false
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blockbuster_(entertainment)
https://www.wordorigins.org/big-list-entries/blockbuster
This seems like one of those terms without any clear origin, and the Wikipedia doesn’t list this potential use as one of them. I’m not saying it isn’t true (I don’t know), but @Quilotoa@lemmy.ca you could edit the title to something like “the term ‘blockbuster’ may have come from”. Or even just add “[disputed]” to the title
This is called a “folk etymology”. Great story, but completely false.
this article is why secondary sources (and beyond) are important.
the op is just an assertion made by cbc with no sources (credible or otherwise) whatsoever.
here’s what it looks like when people know what they’re talking about:
Doing the Lawd’s work!
i heard that ‘Lawd’ is actually an acronym that stands for ‘Let’s all walk dogs’! but not really, though.
I always thought it was because the lines for the theater would get so long they would fill up a city block.
It is. I dunno what this ice nonsense is.
edit: The actual origin of the word is referring to very large bombs in WWII, which clearly took place long after we were using blocks of ice to cool public spaces. But the modern usage in terms of movies does in fact come from the days when mega-hit movies started having lines around the block.
AI article maybe? It’s rambly and doesn’t really have a point to make.
Under the Influence is Terry O’Reilly’s show and he’s usually really good about sourcing things. Pretty disappointing, honestly.
maybe im wrong to, but id expect better from the CBC
/c/explainlikeimcalvin?
AI articles are like Calvin Ball
It’s actually a reference to the blockbuster bomb.
But if a movie bombs, that’s a bad thing.
But if that’s a bomb ass movie, that’s good
If it’s shit, that’s bad.
If it’s the shit, that’s good.
If you’re cold as shit, that’s bad.
If you’re shit hot, that’s good.
The first use of the word in the media was for a war movie.
I had thought it was a reference to a bomb.
Sounds like what someone might make up who was retroactively making up reasons for commonly used terms.
folk etymology my beloathed
edit: nvm other people pointed it out.
it’s just too convoluted and cryptic to be true.
Wrong, the term was invented in 1962 by James Buster and Frederick Block, who were trying to measure movie success rate trends
LMAO i love this
shipping literal blocks of ice from wherever the fuck just-in-time so people could cool their shit blows my mind a little every time i think about it. we take fridges for granted.
Yes, we live in one of the best times in human history.
i wouldnt go as far. we do have nuclear weapons, more addictive drugs than ever less friendship than ever and the most effective brainwashing ever invented. we are worse off on so many ways.
I don’t know which direction it’s coming from, but there is some misinformation in this thread and I don’t appreciate it.
Several theories have been put forward for the origin of the term in a film context. One explanation pertains to the practice of “block booking” whereby a studio would sell a package of films to theaters, rather than permitting them to select which films they wanted to exhibit. However, this practice was outlawed in 1948 before the term became common parlance; while pre-1948 high-grossing big-budget spectacles may be retroactively labelled “blockbusters,” this is not how they were known at the time. Another explanation is that trade publications would often advertise the popularity of a film by including illustrations showing long queues often extending around the block, but in reality the term was never used in this way. The term was actually first coined by publicists who drew on readers’ familiarity with the blockbuster bombs, drawing an analogy with the bomb’s huge impact. The trade press subsequently appropriated the term as short-hand for a film’s commercial potential
Looking up ‘blockbuster word origin’ on Searx.ng, it seems generally accepted that the term origin started with WWII bombs.
are you talking about the comment section or the post itself? i don’t see anyone in the comments who disagrees that this is folk etymology.
Both. The comments have several “Answers”.
All but a few without sourced.
This is not true at all. Atleast not for modern blockbusters since starwars and jaws.
*at least.
Go back to Reddit
chill, my friend. a lot of us constantly fight the urge to correct the spelling of others on the internet, and it’s almost impossible to resist it every time
(edit - i should also mention that neither of us added a period to the end of our sentences)
A lot of you need to accept people type and swype on cell phones and just accept simple spelling errors for what they are.
i’m happy to see you’ve changed your approach :)
I’m not sure what you mean. I’ve never been a grammar nazi.
I think we all meant what he knew.
I already did!
How about box office?
deleted by creator
fuck off
1786, “office in a theater in which tickets are sold,” from box (n.1) + office (n.). Box is attested from late 14c. in the specialized sense of “money box,” especially one in which money is kept for some particular purpose; this was extended to “funds, money” before c. 1400. Box office in the figurative sense of “financial element of a performance” is recorded by 1904.
Thats an outdated term which was eventually used by a VHS rental store after the term was outdated. And NOW, the VHS rental store is outdated. Maybe in 30 years there will be a post “TIL people used to rent VHS tapes as their primary source for watching movies at home. It was called Blockbuster!”
