hathos
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English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Blend of hate + pathos. According to journalist Alex Heard, this word was coined in 1985 when he was searching for a word to describe the "cringe-y feeling you get when celebs go AWOL" and attended a Super Bowl party where he and another guest, then-Bob Dole press aide Scott Richardson, exchanged ideas until they came up with "hathos."[1][2] The word's first apparent use in print was in an essay by Heard, published in The Washington Post on May 17, 1987.[3]
Noun[edit]
hathos (uncountable)
- Enjoyment derived from hatred of a person or thing.
- 1996 January 7, Rod Dreher, “Hate it, Love it”, in Sun-Sentinel:
- The patron saint of hathos connoisseurs, H.L. Mencken, was a brave soul, but even a fellow as sturdy and unstinting as he might have been struck dumb in the presence of the extravagantly hathotic Kathie Lee Gifford.
Quotations[edit]
- For more quotations using this term, see Citations:hathos.
Related terms[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ "More on the origins of Hathos"
- ^ Andrew Sullivan, "I AM HATHOS!", The Daily Dish, 21 June 2001
- ^ hathos on WordSpy.com