laundry mat/laundromat: Common Errors in English Usage Entry for Friday, August 17, 2012

laundry mat/laundromat
“Laundromat” was coined in the 1950s by analogy with “automat”—an automated self-service restaurant—to label an automated self-service laundry. People unaware of this history often mistakenly deconstruct the word into “laundry mat” or “laundrymat.”