vog

Dec. 3rd, 2012 07:48 am
prettygoodword: text: words are sexy (words are sexy)
[personal profile] prettygoodword
vog (VAWG) - n., air pollution caused by substances (such as sulphur dioxide) emitted by a volcano.


Blend of volcano and smog, or perhaps better thought of as a compression of volcanic smog. The word is in common use in Hawai'i, where weather reports routinely include vog conditions due to the ongoing eruption of Kilauea on the Big Island. I found examples via Google going back to the early 1970s, though into the early '90s it was usually defined in context, as if the writer wasn't expecting the audience knew it.

---L.

Date: 2012-12-03 04:52 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] thistleingrey.livejournal.com
Curious that it's not considered volcanic fog, given "smog"'s origin.

Date: 2012-12-03 05:05 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] prettygoodword.livejournal.com
Yeah. But smog was already pretty well entrenched as its own word at that time.

---L.

Date: 2012-12-03 05:41 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] thistleingrey.livejournal.com
Sometimes I forget which way historical contingency flips. :P

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