Pop-up adjective — denoting a shop or other business that opens quickly in a temporary location and is intended to operate for only a short period of time.

By the time this edition of ‘Word Watch’ makes it into print, the ANU campus will be almost enjoying its new pop-up village. The term pop-up, in the sense defined above, is a relatively new one that describes a now ubiquitous feature of modern consumer culture.

Pop-up has an interesting history that suggests much about the evolution of consumer culture through the 20th and into the 21st century.

First appearing in the late 19th century as a noun, pop up was used in the United States to refer to a popover (a small roll with a high top that ‘pops up’ during baking), as well as to a type of baseball hit that goes high and is easy to catch (a hit that ‘pops up’).

The term became more common with the development of the pop-up children’s book in the 1920s – the Oxford English Dictionary records the first use of the adjective in reference to a pop-up edition of A.A. Milne’s Winnie the Pooh in 1926.

Pop-up also described some of the technologies that people used as a variety of appliances became part of ordinary households. Most notable was the pop-up toaster, first advertised in 1938 in the United States.

Pop-up increased in general usage from the 1980s when it began to be used in computing. As computers became part of our everyday lives, we became familiar with the pop-up window and the pop-up (as well as the drop down) menu.

But everyday items also often featured a ‘pop-up’ dimension; technologies from pop-up sprinklers to pop-up headlights (on a car) to pop-up sun shelters can be found in the latter decades of the 20th century and beyond.

Since the 2000s we have seen the arrival of the pop-up shop, the pop-up café, the pop-up restaurant and a variety of pop-up events from protests to concerts. The Oxford English Dictionary records this particular sense of the adjective from 1993.

In Australia, these pop-up locations and events first appeared in the early 2000s. By the end of the first decade of the century, pop-up stores, restaurants and bars were common.

References to pop-ups continue to rise through the 2010s.

The term pop-up village is first recorded in Australia around 2011. The idea of the pop-up village has had an impact in Canberra’s social and cultural scene, notably with the Westside pop-up village that was located by the side of Lake Burley Griffin (now closed).

The University’s pop-up village continues this now well-established phenomenon of global culture.

The term continues to reflect our rapidly evolving consumer culture and is likely to for some time to come.