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1961 neologisms

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military–industrial complex
concept in sociology and military and political science
nocebo
A nocebo effect is said to occur when a patient's expectations for a treatment cause the treatment to have a worse effect than it otherwise would have. For example, when a patient anticipates a side effect of a medication, they can experience that effect even if the "medication" is actually an inert substance. The complementary concept, the placebo effect, is said to occur when expectations improve an outcome.
XYY syndrome
genetic condition in which a male has an extra Y chromosome
sword and sorcery
genre of fantasy fiction
catch-22
situation in which an individual cannot or is incapable of avoiding a problem because of contradictory constraints or rules
grok
Grok () is a neologism coined by the American writer Robert A. Heinlein in his 1961 science fiction novel Stranger in a Strange Land. The Oxford English Dictionary summarizes the meaning of grok as "to understand intuitively or by empathy, to establish rapport with", and "to empathize or communicate sympathetically (with); also, to experience enjoyment". However, Heinlein's original concept, of a human who comes to Earth in early adulthood after being born on the planet Mars, is far more nuanced.
eurocrat
A Eurocrat (a portmanteau of "European" and "bureaucrat") is "a staff member of the administrative commission of the European Union" or more broadly, any official of the European Union. The term was coined by Richard Mayne, a journalist and personal assistant to the first Commission president, Walter Hallstein, in 1961.