[rollei_list] Re: bloviating?
- From: Aaron Reece <oboeaaron@xxxxxxx>
- To: rollei_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 10 Apr 2009 11:12:37 -0400
On Apr 10, 2009, at 9:07 AM, Jan Decher wrote:
What's "bloviating" ? My Webster New Collegiate Dict. does not
include it... ;-)
Bloviate
To bloviate means "to speak pompously and excessively" or "to expound
ridiculously". A colloquial verb coined in the United States, it is
commonly used with contempt to describe the behavior of politicians,
academics, pundits or media "experts," sometimes called bloviators,
who hold forth on subjects in an arrogant, tiresome way.
The Oxford English Dictionary indicates that bloviate derives from
adding a faux-Latinending to the verb 'to blow' or boast, following a
19th-century fad of adding Latin-likeaffixes to ordinary words.
However, others like William Safire claim that 'bloviate' comes from
combining the words 'blow-hard' and 'deviation.'
Although 'bloviate' is listed in slang dictionaries as far back as the
19th century, the term was popularized by United States President
Warren G. Harding in the 1920s. Famed for his poor English usage,
Harding often used the word to describe his own speaking style. The
term dropped from popular usage following his presidency but was
resurrected in the 1960s when it was sometimes used in reference to
Harding.
It became widely spoken again in the 1990s. Today, it appears
regularly in The New York Times, The New Yorker and The Washington Post.
The term is used frequently by Fox News commentator, Bill O'Reilly
whose show, The O'Reilly Factor, concludes with requests for email.
The request for feedback sometimes includes: "And please when writing
to us no bloviating, [that's] my job."
'Bloviating' has taken on new life in the blogosphere, used derisively
to identify and otherwise chide the most pompous of contributors to
message boards and forums.
Source: teh Wiki
-Aaron
---
Rollei List
- Post to rollei_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Subscribe at rollei_list-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'subscribe'
in the subject field OR by logging into www.freelists.org
- Unsubscribe at rollei_list-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with
'unsubscribe' in the subject field OR by logging into www.freelists.org
- Online, searchable archives are available at
//www.freelists.org/archives/rollei_list
Other related posts:
- » [rollei_list] Re: bloviating? - Aaron Reece
