A.Word.A.Day--fanfaronade

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Feb 19, 2020

This week’s theme
Onomatopoeic words

This week’s words
faff
scroop
fanfaronade

“There is no material with which human beings work which has so much potential energy as words.” ~Earnest Calkins
Send energy to friends & family

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A.Word.A.Day

with Anu Garg

fanfaronade

PRONUNCIATION:

(fan-far-uh-NAYD, -NAHD)

MEANING:

noun:
1. Bragging or blustering behavior.
2. Fanfare.

ETYMOLOGY:

From French fanfaronnade, from Spanish fanfarronada (bluster), from fanfarron (braggart), ultimately of imitative origin. Earliest documented use: 1652.

USAGE:

“But what of Trump’s boast that ‘MEXICO HAS AGREED TO IMMEDIATELY BEGIN BUYING LARGE QUANTITIES OF AGRICULTURAL PRODUCT FROM OUR GREAT PATRIOT FARMERS!’? The use of ALL CAPS -- a little too insistent -- and the employment of a description for farmers that sounds as if it was lifted from Pravda, circa 1935, should indicate that this fanfaronade, too, wasn’t quite on the level. And, indeed, Mexican officials told Bloomberg News on Saturday they never discussed agricultural purchases in the days leading up the ballyhooed accord.”
Max Boot; Another Illusory Victory for Trump; The Washington Post; Jun 11, 2019.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

There's nothing that makes you so aware of the improvisation of human existence as a song unfinished. Or an old address book. -Carson McCullers, writer (19 Feb 1917-1967)

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