Citation

Schuchardt RM. Counterblast: e-journal of culture and communication 2001; 1(1): 1-9.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2001)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

It was in the August '98 issue of Atlantic Monthly that journalist Michael Fumento took on the phenomenon known as "road rage." Fumento believes, with substantial evidence backing his claim, that in fact, there is no such thing. Fumento shows that the term was coined in 1988, that it appeared in up to three stories a year up until 1994, when it received 27 mentions, and then spread from there. In 1995 "road rage" appeared almost 500 times. In 1996 the phrase appeared over 1,800 times. In 1997, there were over 4,000 usages of the term in the popular media, according to Fumento's Nexis media database searches. From 1988 to 1994, apparently, only about three people a year were acting aggressively on the highway. But once 1994 hit, all of a sudden it was a fad, then a trend, then a true epidemic of crazy car behavior.

Language: en