bloviate

Oct. 16th, 2012 07:36 am
prettygoodword: text: words are sexy (Default)
[personal profile] prettygoodword
bloviate (BLOH-vee-ayt) - v., to speak or write windily, aimlessly, or pompously.


What blowhards do -- thus the blo- part. This is another colorful 19th century mock-Latin Americanism, coined in the early 1850s -- one that hasn't really traveled outside of the States. It was considered old-fashioned slang in the 1890s, but President Warren G. Harding revived the word both by using and performing it, and it has remained current, with a few ups and downs in fashion, ever since.

---L.

July 2025

S M T W T F S
   12345
6789101112
13141516171819
20212223242526
2728293031  

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated Jul. 4th, 2025 03:07 am
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios