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POPINJAY

Posted: Mon Dec 18, 2006 12:24 am
by Dr. Goodword
• popinjay •

Pronunciation: pah-pin-jay • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Noun

Meaning: 1. A vain, conceited, pompous person, a coxcomb, a fop. 2. A loquacious, talkative person, a blabbermouth.

Notes: This Good and colorful Word originally referred to a parrot, which explains the two rather unrelated meanings "show-off" and "blabbermouth". You may use this word as an adjective meaning "vividly or garishly bright" when referring to colors, as popinjay blue or popinjay green.

In Play: Popinjay began as a metaphor for a brightly multicolored bird and referred to people who were dressed showily. It has since migrated to people who show off in any manner: "August March is such a strutting popinjay, I doubt he would deign even to speak to a general with fewer than four stars." As a result of the association with jays—not to mention the parrot's own talkativeness—the word's meaning today is slipping toward loquacity: "That smarmy popinjay in the front office won't let you get a word in edgewise."

Word History: Today's Good Word started out as Old French papegai "parrot" (perroquet today in French). The French could have gotten the word from any number of European languages: Russian popugai and Spanish, papagayo are just two languages that still use it. It reached Greek as papagas by the Middle Ages, a word which survives as papagalos today. The Europeans appropriated the word from Arabic babaga, probably during the Crusades. Arabic assumed the word from Persian babbagha. The Persian word is probably onomatopoetic, an imitation of parrot babbling. The last syllable changed to -jay in English under the influence of the word for jays, another chatty bird more familiar to our English ancestors.

Re: POPINJAY

Posted: Mon Dec 18, 2006 9:32 pm
by gailr

In Play: Popinjay began as a metaphor for a brightly multicolored bird and referred to people who were dressed showily. ...[snip]...

Word History: Today's Good Word started out as Old French papegai "parrot" (perroquet today in French). The French could have gotten the word from any number of European languages: Russian popugai and Spanish, papagayo are just two languages that still use it. It reached Greek as papagas by the Middle Ages, a word which survives as papagalos today. ...[snip]...
I'm guessing this is the origin of Mozart's characters of Papageno and Papagena?

-gailr

Posted: Mon Dec 18, 2006 9:47 pm
by Perry
This is a word I associate with PG Wodehouse, and perhaps some writers a bit before his time. But the Online Etymology Dictionary has the word in use as early as 1528.

Posted: Tue Dec 19, 2006 5:07 pm
by Stargzer
This is another great Bill O'Reilly word, along with his admonition to be pithy; no bloviating allowed by his guests or his listeners in their emails.

Re: POPINJAY

Posted: Tue Dec 19, 2006 5:18 pm
by Stargzer
• popinjay •

...Word History: Today's Good Word started out as Old French papegai "parrot" (perroquet today in French). ..
Whence comes today's parakeets, as in John and Ezra Jack :?:

:)

Posted: Sat Dec 23, 2006 3:33 pm
by sluggo
Deemed apparently appropriate for the name of a hotelin, of all ostentatious places, Scotland. Presumably the staff is right smarmy.

Posted: Sat Dec 23, 2006 6:21 pm
by Bailey
I see in the amenities section they do have dogs and a bar, no smoking, but there is Wifi and something denoted by an arrow pointing up and down but it's got a red slash across it so they don't have up and down, is it a ranch?

mark gets-confused Bailey

Posted: Sat Dec 23, 2006 6:46 pm
by skinem
I see in the amenities section they do have dogs and a bar, no smoking, but there is Wifi and something denoted buy an arrow pointing up and down but it's got a red slash across it so they don't have up and down, is it a ranch?

mark gets-confused Bailey
I took it to mean the laws of gravity don't apply.

Posted: Sat Dec 23, 2006 8:48 pm
by Bailey
Ah, yes, of course. I should have realized that immediately.

Thanks, Skinny, you are the man!

mark pale-copy Bailey

Posted: Wed Dec 27, 2006 10:53 am
by Stargzer
I just found another reference at Wikipedia whilst looking up The Twelve Days of Christmas:
In Scotland early in the nineteenth century the song was started with:

"The King sent his lady on the first Yule day,A popingo-aye (parrot) Wha learns my carol and carries it away?"
The question now is, is the "aye" pronounced "ī" as in a sailor's "aye-aye" or "ā" as in "Eh?" The latter would be closer to the "jay" in "popinjay."

Posted: Wed Dec 27, 2006 10:54 am
by Stargzer
I just found another reference at Wikipedia whilst looking up The Twelve Days of Christmas:
In Scotland early in the nineteenth century the song was started with:

"The King sent his lady on the first Yule day,A popingo-aye (parrot) Wha learns my carol and carries it away?"
The question now is, is the "aye" pronounced "ī" as in a sailor's "aye-aye" or "ā" as in "Eh?" The latter would be closer to the "jay" in "popinjay." It would also rhyme with "day" and "away."

Posted: Wed Dec 27, 2006 7:42 pm
by sluggo
...

The question now is, is the "aye" pronounced "ī" as in a sailor's "aye-aye" or "ā" as in "Eh?" The latter would be closer to the "jay" in "popinjay." It would also rhyme with "day" and "away."
Of course, they could all be pronounced "ī", eh? The dipthong seems likely.