October 28, 1998

soap opera

I would be very interested to know the origin of the term "soap opera."

The expression soap opera refers to a radio or television series depicting the interconnected lives of many characters often in a sentimental, melodramatic way. It is also used figuratively to refer to a real-life situation that resembles the stories on soap operas, and to anything having sentimentality or melodrama.

A soap opera is so called for the less-than-thrilling reason that soap manufacturers were prominent initial sponsors of such programs. Opera was already in use in weakened senses like this: horse opera was a popular 1920s term for a Western film or radio/TV show, and oat(s) opera was in use by the mid-1930s.

Soap opera is an Americanism first recorded in the late 1930s.