Wacky Word Wednesday: Fanfaronade
You probably come across this week’s wacky word more than you know. Described in the Macquarie Dictionary as ‘bragging; bravado or bluster’ it’s the kind of behaviour we’re not unused to seeing, probably more so among the rich and famous. If you were paying attention you probably saw some of it at this week’s Oscars ceremony. Well, now when you come across a boastful, blustering braggart’s crowing you have one perfect word to describe it – fanfaronade.
Fanfaronade, or arrogant or boastful talk, has its origins in French. Around the mid-17th century it comes up in English in Sir Thomas Urquhart’s Logopandecteision (or An Introduction to the Universal Language – actually, I’m sensing some fanfaronade in that title…). Sir Thomas was a Scottish writer and translator who is most famous for his translations of Rabelais. In Logopandecteision he wrote:
