Since its introduction in the early 20th century, the film industry’s contributions to the English language have been manifold. With film award season in full swing, we examine a few of the more enduring terms, some of which have even broadened their applications beyond the lexicon of film.
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WHERE DID THE PHRASE "SILVER SCREEN" COME FROM?
When English speakers first started attending “the pictures” in the 1910s, movie screens were coated with reflective metallic paint, resulting in a silver surface to better display the projected images.
By the 1920s, the term silver screen moved beyond the literal realm and into metaphorical territory to apply to cinema in general. Fun fact: this type of broadening in which something associated with an object or concept takes on the name of that thing is called metonymy.
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WHAT DOES TECHNICOLOR MEAN?
This term was coined by the company named Technicolor, and the trademarked term described a brand name for transforming black-and-white film “by means of superimposing the three primary colors to produce a final colored print.” The process replaced a much more time-consuming method of hand-coloring the prints.
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WHAT DOES BLOCKBUSTER MEAN?
When the term blockbuster entered English in the 1940s, it referred to “aerial bombs containing high explosives used in large-scale demolitions” as this sort of bomb could take out an entire block of buildings. The earliest blockbusters appear to have been the invention of the British Royal Air Force.
Once the Second World War ended, and the literal bombs were no longer being dropped, blockbuster continued to be used metaphorically, generally to describe something that was of great excitement or significance. The term was often used in describing movies, especially by marketers, but not necessarily more so than in describing other things that had a certain wow factor.
From Dictionary.com
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