Bloviation

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Bloviation is a style of empty, pompous political speech particularly associated with Ohio due to the term's popularization by United States President Warren G. Harding, who, himself a master of the technique, described it as "the art of speaking for as long as the occasion warrants, and saying nothing".[1] The verb "to bloviate" is the act of creating bloviation. In terms of its etymology, according to one source, the word is a "compound of blow, in its sense of 'to boast' (also in another typical Americanism, blowhard), with a mock-Latin ending to give it the self-important stature implicit in its meaning.".[2]

Origin

"Bloviation" in Ohio meant originally idle chatter.[3][4] Used to refer to a form of political speech, it appears in the Debates and Proceedings of the Convention for the Revision of the Constitution of the State of Ohio in the mid 19th century.[3]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Conlin, Joseph R. (2009), The American Past: A Survey of American History 2, Cengage Learning, p. 629, ISBN 978-0-495-57289-3
  2. ↑ Quinion, Michael (1999). "Bloviate". World Wide Words. Retrieved January 24, 2012.
  3. 1 2 Metcalf, Allan A. (2004), Presidential voices: speaking styles from George Washington to George W. Bush, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, pp. 134–135, ISBN 978-0-618-44374-1
  4. ↑ Boller, Paul F. (1996), Presidential anecdotes, Oxford University Press, p. 229, ISBN 978-0-19-509731-3
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