What is "smog"

1905, blend of smoke and fog, formed "after Lewis Carrol's example" [Klein; see portmanteau]. Reputedly coined in reference to London, and first attested there in a paper read by Dr. H.A. des Voeux, treasurer of the Coal Smoke Abatement Society, though he seems not to have claimed credit for coining it.\n\nAt a recent health congress in London, a member used a new term to indicate a frequent London condition, the black fog, which is not unknown in other large cities and which has been the cause of a great deal of bad language in the past. The word thus coined is a contraction of smoke fog "smog" -- and its introduction was received with applause as being eminently expressive and appropriate. It is not exactly a pretty word, but it fits very well the thing it represents, and it has only to become known to be popular.

["Journal of the American Medical Association," Aug. 26, 1905]

n. A noxious mixture of particulates and gases that is the result of urban air pollution vb. (context informal English) To get a smog check; to check a vehicle or have it checked for emissions.

n. air pollution by a mixture of smoke and fog [syn: smogginess]

The SMOG grade is a measure of readability that estimates the years of education needed to understand a piece of writing. SMOG is the acronym derived from Simple Measure of Gobbledygook. It is widely used, particularly for checking health messages. The SMOG grade yields a 0.985 correlation with a standard error of 1.5159 grades with the grades of readers who had 100% comprehension of test materials.

The formula for calculating the SMOG grade was developed by G. Harry McLaughlin as a more accurate and more easily calculated substitute for the Gunning fog index and published in 1969. To make calculating a text's readability as simple as possible an approximate formula was also given — count the words of three or more syllables in three 10-sentence samples, estimate the count's square root (from the nearest perfect square), and add 3.

A 2010 study published in the Journal of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh stated that “SMOG should be the preferred measure of readability when evaluating consumer-oriented healthcare material.” The study found that “The Flesch-Kincaid formula significantly underestimated reading difficulty compared with the gold standard SMOG formula.”

Applying SMOG to other languages lacks statistical validity.

Smog is a form of air pollution.

Smog or SMOG may also refer to:

• SMOG, a measure of readability
• SMOG (literary group), an informal group of young Soviet poets
• Smog (band), of Bill Callahan, a music artist
• Smog (TV film), a 1973 TV film by Wolfgang Petersen
• SMOG, a fictional organization (Scientific Measurement Of Ghosts) in "The Living Dead" episode of The Avengers (TV series)
• Smog (1/3), a sculpture by Tony Smith
• Theatrical smog, a special effect

Smog is a public artwork by American artist Tony Smith located to the south east of McCardell Bicentennial Hall on the Middlebury College campus, in Middlebury, Vermont. An example of minimalist sculpture, the piece is a lattice of 45 octahedra, standing on 22 tetrahedra, and topped with 15 prisms. It is fabricated from aluminum, painted black. This work is first in an edition of three, with one artist's proof.

Lippincotts, LLC was commissioned by the estate of the artist to manage the construction of this artwork, and the piece was fabricated by WeldingWorks, Inc. of Madison, CT in 2000.

SMOG was one of the earliest informal literary groups independent of the Soviet state in the post-Stalin Soviet Union. Among the several interpretations of the acronym are Smelsot', Mysl', Obraz i Glubina (Courage, Thought, Image and Depth), and, humorously, Samoe Molodoe Obshchestvo Geniev (Society of Youngest Geniuses).

It was organized in January/February 1965 by a group of young poets and writers: Poet Leonid Gubanov (initiator, membership card #1), writer and editor Vladimir Batshev (membership card #2), poet and publicist Yuri Kublanovsky, Vladimir Aleynikov, a poet who received the Andrei Belyi prize; and poets Nikolai Bokov, Arkady Pakhomov, later joined by several dozens of others.

The group carried out public reading of poetry and issued several samizdat collections and a magazine Sfinksy ("Sphynxes"). In 1965, they revived the literary meetings at Mayakovsky Square ( Mayakovsky Square poetry readings).

Some of the members also helped organize the unsanctioned 1965 glasnost rally calling for a legal trial of writers Andrei Sinyavsky and Yuli Daniel.

The group was under the pressure of the state. The last poetry reading took place on April 14, 1966.