View From The Porch: Overheard in the Office...

Monday, June 03, 2013

Overheard in the Office...

Apparently someone on the televisor used the word "braggadocious" to disparage someone else:

RX: "'Braggadocious'? 'Braggadocious'?"

Me: "Don't you think using 'braggadocious' in a sentence is a little grandiose?"

RX: "I don't think it's even a word."

It's not.

28 comments:

Jennifer said...: Paging Mary Poppins. Please pick up the red phone; 10:09 AM, June 03, 2013
RevolverRob said...: Maybe they meant that the other TV idiot was "braggadoucheious". I would have given ten points to forming that as a new word.

I wish I could say I were surprised, but I have taught so-called "communications" majors who plan to go into TV. Most can't write their way out of a paper bag.

-Rob; 10:21 AM, June 03, 2013
Anonymous said...: Hey, we do speak a living language. If it successfully communicates the meaning, and other people understand what you mean when you use it, it is a word – no matter how much the purists scream.; 10:37 AM, June 03, 2013
Gerry N. said...: I've had the "honor" of being interviewed three times by "proffesional reportists" all three got it wrong and one was a woman I'd known for more than thirty years. None could write three paragraphs without at least one egregious grammatical error and two serious misspellings.

So much for a kolege edumakashon.

Gerry N.; 10:38 AM, June 03, 2013
perlhaqr said...: It's in the online OED in the American English section.

http://oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/braggadocious; 10:48 AM, June 03, 2013
Pakkinpoppa said...: Heard on the radio, last night,

"Tragesty."

Must be a combination of "tragedy" and "travesty".

Perhaps.

Secret Code: dditstr creature

Wasn't that the villain in one of the Cthulhu novels, maybe one of the ones by August Derleth perhaps?; 10:55 AM, June 03, 2013
Les Jones said...: Was the adjective being used to describe ta-tas?; 11:36 AM, June 03, 2013
Matthew Walker said...: It's a great coinage, as good as "beclowned". I welcome it.; 12:31 PM, June 03, 2013
Critter said...: Someone needs more schooling.; 1:16 PM, June 03, 2013
Sigivald said...: Braggadocio is a word. Braggadicious is the obvious adjective construction following standard English rules.

It's totally a word, as perlhaqr said.; 1:47 PM, June 03, 2013
1911Man said...: Its root has been a word for more than 500 years.

late 16th century (denoting a boaster): from Braggadocchio, the name of a braggart in Spenser's The Faerie Queene, from brag or braggart + the Italian suffix -occio, denoting something large of its kind; 1:49 PM, June 03, 2013
Stuart the Viking said...: This is exactly how words are added to our language. They are made-up by someone and then propagate through the complaints of people who don't like made-up words until the new word pervades the collective consciousness.

It's a perfectly cromulent way of getting a new word.

That said, I personally don't really care for the word braggadocious. It seems a little superfluous.

s; 2:51 PM, June 03, 2013
Anonymous said...: You're just trying to caricaturize the talking heads on the teevee. ;)

Srsly though, what anon 10:37 and others have said here. It's a living thing; let it breathe.; 2:55 PM, June 03, 2013
Kristophr said...: Why object to embiggening our language?; 3:33 PM, June 03, 2013
Tam said...: 1911Man,

Yes, I am aware that "braggadocio" is a valid noun. Thank you.

The Rest of you members of Pedants Against Pedantry: I use words that aren't words all the time. "Embigennated", in the post below this one, is frequently used by me in both written and spoken forms. It is not a word. Puzzle that out. ;); 4:31 PM, June 03, 2013
Anonymous said...: Rules are for thee, not for me. Got it.; 4:41 PM, June 03, 2013
Tam said...: "Rules are for thee, not for me. Got it."

What rules? Are you making up rules again?; 5:07 PM, June 03, 2013
Tam said...: Once again, the internets makes a wonderful Rorschach Test... Maybe if people just read what I wrote without front-loading it with all their own interpretations. I especially like the "Rules are for thee, not for me" guy. You need to seek some help, dude.; 5:10 PM, June 03, 2013
RevolverRob said...: If we've decided to add "braggadocious", I hereby propose "braggadoucheious" as well. Probably both words describe the same class of individuals, but I my version adds a little more 21st century cultural contextual flair.

-Rob; 9:29 PM, June 03, 2013
Tam said...: RevolverRob,

"I hereby propose "braggadoucheious" as well."

While not a word, it definitely should be.

I hereby swear to do my part to work it into the ver-NA-kyoo-lǝr. :); 9:40 PM, June 03, 2013
mustanger said...: Hey Tam, a short while back, I was showing one of your posts to my Mom... I went to "imbiggenate" the pic and she wondered what kind of word that was or if I was making it up.

I had heard of a braggadocio before. I guess there's an academic version that likes to impress everybody with big words... probably prays to himself that nobody figures out how jejune he is. I was under the impression though that most braggadocios were more likely swashbucklers than pontificationists. It's been a while since I'd seen the word in use.; 10:19 PM, June 03, 2013
Anonymous said...: "While not a word, it definitely should be."

Prexactly.

wv"satiric" Heh.; 10:23 PM, June 03, 2013
God, Gals, Guns, Grub said...: Was it a tornadic flurry of braggadocious?

Dann in Ohio; 10:35 PM, June 03, 2013
Kristophr said...: I think most of us are aware of your Cromulence, Tam.

We were just having some fun.; 12:23 AM, June 04, 2013
mikee said...: In the charade version of "Braggadocious" the person explaining the word would denote 5 syllables, then adopt the mien of Bill Clinton for an instant win.

Now that I think about it, works for the "Braggadoucheous" version, too.; 3:06 PM, June 04, 2013
RevolverRob said...: Just a quick update, my friend and I went to partake in a Döner kebab this afternoon for lunch. As we drove through the parking lot, we observed a Ferrari 458 sitting in the lot, parked across three spaces in a very crowded lot.

I turned to my friend and said, "Ha look at that braggadoucheious park job on that Ferrari!" My friend's immediate reaction was, "Braggadoucheious?! New word. I love it."

Successful introduction of this new word.

-Rob; 2:09 AM, June 05, 2013
Anonymous said...: I dunno Rob, the Notaword dictionary defines it as "adj. relating to direct or immediate action or commentary of inflated and abrasive importance of self." Seems he'd have to be physically in the car sneering at the little people to qualify for this elevated status and not just a regular prick. Close though.; 8:58 AM, June 05, 2013
Anonymous said...: I present to you an alternative pronunciation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRrgJdoHuBU; 9:23 AM, June 06, 2013