

Oct 27, 2017 This week’s theme

Coined words



This week’s words

mimsy

scare quote

proxemics

muppet

bafflegab



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Next week’s theme

Blend words Coined words A.Word.A.Day with Anu Garg



bafflegab PRONUNCIATION: (BA-fuhl-gab)

MEANING: noun: Obscure, pompous, or incomprehensible language, such as bureaucratic jargon.

ETYMOLOGY: Coined by Milton A. Smith, assistant general counsel for the US Chamber of Commerce, in 1952. From baffle, perhaps from Scots bauchle (to denounce) + gab, perhaps of imitative origin.

USAGE: “You might fool Jack with that kind of bafflegab, but it won’t work on me.”

David Tallach; Upperkirkgate; Lulu; 2015.



“Conversations that would once have been conducted behind closed doors or cloaked in diplomatic bafflegab are now out in the open for all to see.”

Peter Shawn Taylor; America’s First Millennial President; Maclean’s (Toronto, Canada); Jan 16, 2017.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead; I lift my eyes and all is born again. -Sylvia Plath, poet (27 Oct 1932-1963)





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