Smog, community-wide polluted air. Although the term is derived from the words smoke and fog, it is commonly used to describe the pall of automotive or industrial origin that lies over many cities, and its composition is variable (see video). The term was probably first used in 1905 by H.A. Des Voeux to describe atmospheric conditions over many British towns. It was popularized in 1911 by Des Voeux’s report to the Manchester Conference of the Smoke Abatement League of Great Britain on the more than 1,000 “smoke-fog” deaths that occurred in Glasgow and Edinburgh during the autumn of 1909.