Coined by Alex Haigh, a 23-year-old Melbourne resident, phubbing stands for "phone snubbing", and describes "the act of snubbing someone in a social setting by looking at your phone instead of paying attention".

Victorians are being called to revolt against a growing modern social scourge branded "phubbing" — slang for snubbing others in social settings while engrossed in a phone.

English is heir to some 1 million words. We own the arcane, such as vug (a rock cavity), and the modern (phubbing — or snubbing another with your smartphone).