Flopcorn (unpopped corn kernel)

‘Flopcorn” is an invented word for the unpopped kernels of popcorn.  The word “flopcorn” dates to at least 1990 in a collection of “sniglets,” described by “Sniglets” author Rich Hall as “any word that doesn’t appear in the dictionary, but should.”
 
Other terms for unpopped corn kernels include “old maids/old bachelors,” “widows,” “duds” and “pooped corn.”
 
   
Sniglets
Flopcorn (flop’ korn) - n. The unpopped kernels at the bottom of the cooker.
 
The Unword Dictionary
Definition of flopcorn :
( flŏp’kôrn’ )
1. (n.) The unpopped kernels at the bottom of the cooker.
 
Urban Dictionary
flopcorn
the kernels at the bottom of the microwave popcorn bag that do not pop, despite careful cooking timing and bag shaking. flop popcorn
After I’d eaten most of the popcorn, I could see quite a few flopcorns at the bottom of the bag.
by TraceyHS Apr 15, 2006
 
Google Groups: rec.humor
Newsgroups: rec.humor
From: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) (Shannon W. Price)
Date: Wed, 29 Jul 1992 15:51:09 GMT
Local: Wed, Jul 29 1992 9:51 am
Subject: Snigglets
 
FLOPCORN - The unpopped kernels at the bottom of the popcorn popper.
   
Edward Willett’s Intergalactic Library
Potato Chips, Popcorn & Pretzels
Copyright 1993 by Edward Willett
(...)
(Kernels that fail to pop have traditionally been labelled “old maids” and “widows,” although in these politically correct times, one company has taken to calling them “flopcorn” instead.)
 
Google Books
Popped Culture:
A Social History of Popcorn in America
By Andrew F. Smith
Published by Univ of South Carolina Press
1999
Pg. 40:
Haskin’s Christmas days started off with popcorn cereal composed of ground “old maids and the old bachelors” with sugar and cream. Old maids and old bachelors were the kernels that did not pop after exposure to heat. (Today these terms have been deemed politically incorrect; the proper substitutions are “duds,” “unpopped kernels,” “pooped corn,” or “flopcorn.”)