The Joy of using Archaic Words
Today’s word: Bloviate
Well. Well. Well. It is the 1st Friday of February 2024. I have to say, I blinked and already into the 2nd month of the year. Going through a bit of warm spell in these parts, so, can see patches of grass at the moment. My preferred method ‘to stop and look around’ is ‘to stop and smell the fresh cut grass’. Obviously, cannot do that and to be frank, never really thought about what to do in the winter “to stop and look around” like I do in the spring, summer and fall with the smelling of fresh cut grass. If one ‘stops and looks around’ while outside during wintertime, OHHHHH, you feel the cold, especially when that frigid North wind is a blowing 😊. However, I do REALLY appreciate the longer daylight hours at the start of January, the start of the New Year. Definitely fantastic to see the Sun, the daylight past 5 pm. So, re: wintertime in January, I will start to “stop and soak up the longer daylight”. Look, smile, enjoy, appreciate daylight past 5 pm. Cool, found a Sunshine moment. Neat 😊.
Progressing forward. The word for this post, Bloviate. From my copy of the New World Dictionary (America English, 3rd edition), it is a verb meaning to speak bombastically or rhetorically. From Google, the Oxford Languages Dictionary, it is a verb meaning to talk at length, especially in an inflated or empty way, synonym prattle or babble.
Interesting story behind choosing Bloviate for this Post. I was conversing with one of my Subscribers recently. She is a Bibliophile and Oh My Word, she reads a lot. Lately, she has been razzing me a tad by informing me that “I know this word, I know that word” aka these words are NOT archaic to her. To be honest, I enjoy this friendly joshing. She ain’t telling me to do some dangerous like go jump the lake, go play in the street, spoon with a Porcupine, bearhug an actual Bear, play chicken with a Rhino, pet a Cobra. If she wanted to be really mean, she could tell me to go stick my tongue on a pole in the middle of winter (yeah, that is a major No-No or a dare you DON’T do in Canada this time of year). No, she is just joshing me about “Oh, I know that word” aka it ain’t archaic BDJ. Fine. Just gives me incentive to find a word or two that she probably does NOT know. Happened already, very infrequently, but it has happened 😊.
I digress. So, talking with her, she told me about this word, bloviate. She asked me if I knew about this word. Initially, I thought I did, but to be truthful, I do not. I asked her to define this for me and she did. I will admit, a bit intrigued when I heard the definition. Thought to myself, ‘Ah, I’ll write about this word in a future post. Besides, I had a particular word in mind for the 1st Post of February.” However, the more I thought about this word bloviate, the stronger the impulse to write about it, sooner rather than later. So, putting my first choice on the backburner and decided to write about bloviate instead. Plus, I was curious what the end result would be aka what references could I apply to bloviate to describe/comment on, a word that I am totally unfamiliar with.
When pondering about bloviate, thinking/mulling over the aspect of ‘talking at length in an empty way”, first reflex was to Star Trek: The Next Generation. In Season 6, Episode 18 titled Starship Mine, this is where Mr. Data is trying to learn to partake in the pastime of small talk or nonrelevant conversion (Data’s words). Main reason Data is learning small talk, nonrelevant conversion: Commander Hutchinson. Commander Hutchinson aka Hutch is hosting a Reception for the Senor Staff of the Enterprise at a Starbase. And he is the Master, actually, more like a Grandmaster of nonrelevant conversion, a Small Talk Guru. Hutch and Data, they meet and immediately engage in nonrelevant conversion and it seems like they have been talking for like, an eternity. As Commander Riker commented “How long can two people talk about nothing?” After hearing that comment, I, of course, flash to that Mega Hit show about Nothing, Seinfeld. In fact, both shows were airing at the same time in the 90s. This particular episode of TNG, again from the 6th season, so, it aired 1992, 1993. Seinfeld REALLY started to become NBC’s Juggernaut in 1992. So, this scene with Hutch and Data talking about nothing, commented by Commander Riker, fairly certain that Seinfeld was an influence in this episode. More likely, some of the TNG writers were fans of Seinfeld and decided to highlight the art of talking about nothing, for a B story in a TNG episode. Right On. Right On.
So, an element of bloviate is one person (or persons) just talking and talking and talking and talking and talking that seems to go on Forever, Never Ending, No End in Sight. And she/he is talking about things that are inconsequential (at least to the person listening). However, another element to bloviate (besides the fact that a person who is bloviating, is a blooming motormouth, a windbag), the person who is talking, she/he is talking in a pompous, boastful manner. So, not only is a person talking one’s ear off about inconsequential things, but boasting about themselves, inflating themselves. Basically, making themselves more than what they actually are. Have to say, bloviate, with its 2 elements of talking incessantly about nothing while inflating one self-value, definitely ain’t positive. Bloviate = wave de negative, true that.
Well, there is a public figure who is known globally that would be the prime example of one who bloviates; however, I am not a fan of this public figure, so, I will refrain from using this figure as an example. And yes, I have met people who, upon reflection, did bloviate, I am certain we all have met people who can bloviate until the cows come home (and then some). However, to be frank, I am having a hard time, coming up with a specific character, from a TV show or movie, who would fit this word to a tee, like a glove. I mean, I can think about characters from shows like Star Trek: TNG, Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, MASH who have either one of the elements, but not both. Perhaps Professor Gilderoy Lockhart from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, he definitely liked to talk a lot (about nothing, my opinion) and propped himself up more than he actually was. For me though, a person who bloviates, the Anti-Harry Callahan, the Anti-Dirty Harry. Inspector Callahan does NOT engage in nonrelevant conversation, does NOT inflate his self-worth. Thus, Inspector Callahan, not a Bloviator.
To recap, bloviate, it is a verb meaning to talk at length aka forever about things that are inconsequential aka nothing or nothing of importance, particularly in a bombastic or inflated yet empty manner or style. The Joy of this word, twofold. The first, the usual, learned a new word which has increased my vocabulary, always joyful about that 😊. Second, going out of my comfort zone to write about this word, a word that I just learned about. Yes, I have posted about words that I did not know existed prior to writing. Those words though, the creative juices were just a flowing. This time around, the creative juices were not readily flowing when thinking/mulling about bloviate. My first choice of this Post, that word, it would have been like falling off log, not very hard aka the creative juices were a flowing. Bloviate, writing about it wasn’t like falling off a log. Writing this Post, it would be akin to do cursive with my non-dominant hand, but I managed to do it and the hand-writing is legible. At least, in my opinion Oh Yeah 😊.
Thank you Everyone. Thank you for taking the time to read the Post. And, hope everyone has many a Sunshine moment happening to them. Post soon.
BDJ signing off. Grazie.
P. S. Shout to Bruno, who brought bloviate to my attention. Thank you Bruno, for unintentionally daring me to write about this word. Bloviate ain’t Scallywag, but at least it does not have the Drub vibe to it 😊.
I will not bloviate on this word but will simply say that it sounds like one of the symptoms leading to WG's gallbladder surgery.