robo-call n. an automated (telemarketing) phone call. Editorial Note: Robo, from robot, is a long-standing prefix used to indicate automation or mechanization. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
It’s hard to imagine now, but there was a time when people disagreed over the best word to use when answering the phone. Alexander Graham Bell suggested answering with ahoy! but Thomas Edison was partial to hello! A fascinating new book about...
The autocomplete function on your phone comes in handy, of course. But is it changing the way we write and how linguists study language? Also, suppose you could invite any two authors, living or dead, to dinner. Who’s on your guest list and...
There’s also “robo-caller,” which dates to 1993 on the Usenet archive: news.admin.misc, 9/23/93, “I don’t recall any robo-caller owner complaining about Freedom of Speech.”
Nice. Thanks, Ben.
And let’s not forget about the verb! From comp.org.eff.talk, 4/13/91: “Last time I got robocalled, the discussion went something like: ‘Would you like blah blah blah insurance information blah blah blah sent to you no fee no obligation blah blah blah…?’”
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