FILOFAX

noun (Business World) (Lifestyle and Leisure) The trade mark of a type of loose-leaf portable filing system; a personal organizer. Etymology: A respelling of file of facts which is meant to reflect colloquial pronunciation. History and Usage: The Filofax has been made for several decades (the trade mark was first registered in the early thirties), but the name was not widely known until the early eighties, when it suddenly became fashionable (especially for business people) to carry a Filofax. These small loose-leaf folders usually contain a diary and other personal documentation such as an address book, planner, note section, maps, etc., as well as a wallet with spaces for a pen, credit cards, and other small non-paper items. In the mid eighties the Filofax was associated particularly with the yuppie set--the word was even used attributively in the sense 'yuppie'. By the end of the decade all sorts of people could be seen with Filofaxes--or with one of the numerous imitations of the Filofax proper--and a growing market developed for different types of filofax insert. So popular were they that variations on the theme started to appear--notably Filofiction, novels produced on hole-punched sheets to fit a Filofax. (Some other examples of the birth of filo- as a combining form are given in the quotations below.) Filofax is even occasionally used as a verb, meaning 'to steal a Filofax from (someone) in order to demand a ransom for its return'--a crime apparently known colloquially as filo-napping or fax-napping. The Digger guide to Metropolitan Manners No 1: Yup and Non-Yup by Ivor Pawsh (Advice: consult filonotes when reading this). Digger 9 Oct. 1987, p. 26 Small neat people tend to go for the small neat organizers while fatsos nearly always buy large Filofaxes and stuff them fit to burst. The Times 10 June 1988, p. 27 An advertisement in last week's Bookseller for Filofiction--or what the publishers describe as 'publishing's brightest new idea'. New Scientist 28 July 1988, p. 72 Taxpak '89 is a new filofax insert detailing the Budget changes, enabling you to check your income tax allowance. Investors Chronicle 17-23 Mar. 1989, p. 35 One of the more Americanised [pop groups] of England's filofax funksters. Listener 4 May 1989, p. 36 The filoflask...a normal personal organiser but with a hip flask fitted inside, is being marketed. The Times 14 June 1990, p. 27