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I recently commented on Simon Reynold’s excellent book Retromania and how it aptly explains current stagnation in music, the visual arts, and fashion. Retromania, also affects consumer behavior in the grocery store. Particularly in times of upheaval and uncertainty people turn to processed comfort foods popular in earlier decades. For example grocery stores in the …

Retromania – an unhealthy obsession?

I have an insatiable urge to learn new words and observe how language develops. It is an incurable condition but one I effectively self-medicate with extensive reading and the NYT crossword. What really excites me is word genesis, when a new word spreads in the mainstream media – for example retromania. As the Google Ngram …