Popularity of the word - General Tiki

B bigbrotiki Tiki Socialite Tiki Island, above the Silverlake Joined: Mar 25, 2002 Posts: 11621	B bigbrotiki Posted posted on Fri, Dec 17, 2010 12:59 PM Very cool! Keep in mind though that books represent "high culture" in comparison to popular culture. I have no idea where the peaking of "Tiki" would have come from in the 30s, but the peak from the late 40s to throughout the 60s must have to do with the popularity of Kon Tiki. Note the decline in the 70s, and the low period in the 80s and 90s, then the steady climb around 2000, if you extend the graph to 2008: http://ngrams.googlelabs.com/graph?content=Tiki&year_start=1800&year_end=2008&corpus=0&smoothing=3 In the 50s and 60s, the word and concept of Tiki was not popularized in books, but in "low culture" items like menus, signs, party products and the like. Books and magazines ignored popular fads like Tiki style back then, that's why it came and went unrecognized.

Very cool! Keep in mind though that books represent "high culture" in comparison to popular culture. I have no idea where the peaking of "Tiki" would have come from in the 30s, but the peak from the late 40s to throughout the 60s must have to do with the popularity of Kon Tiki. Note the decline in the 70s, and the low period in the 80s and 90s, then the steady climb around 2000, if you extend the graph to 2008:

http://ngrams.googlelabs.com/graph?content=Tiki&year_start=1800&year_end=2008&corpus=0&smoothing=3

In the 50s and 60s, the word and concept of Tiki was not popularized in books, but in "low culture" items like menus, signs, party products and the like. Books and magazines ignored popular fads like Tiki style back then, that's why it came and went unrecognized.

Post #569125 by bigbrotiki on Fri, Dec 17, 2010 12:59 PM