In May 2012 a group of lexicographers, authors, and poets at Sydney University were asked by an advertising agency to come up with a new word for the habit of snubbing someone in favour of a mobile phone.

The word they chose was phubbing, which combines the words phone and snubbing. It was spread around the world by the Stop Phubbing campaign, created by the advertising agency, and is also part of a campaign to promote the new Macquarie Dictionary of Australia.

Phubbing is defined as “The act of snubbing someone in a social setting by looking at your phone instead of paying attention” [source].

See also:

And: Wikipedia

I hadn’t heard of this word before until I saw the video about it on Facebook. It’s not often that you know exactly where a word comes from, when it was first coined, and who was responsible.

Do you phub? I try not to.

Do any other languages have a word for this practise?