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Flamboyant

Posted: Wed Sep 25, 2013 8:32 am
by Slava
9/25/13's Good Word of the Day:

• flamboyant •

Pronunciation: flæm-boy-ênt • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Adjective

Meaning: 1. Flashy, showy, resplendently florid, flowery, colorful. 2. Prone to exuberant, ostentatious or audacious display. 3. (Architecture) Having wavy lines and flame-like forms characteristic of 15th and 16th century French architecture.

Notes: Today's showy Good Word was taken from French whole, not changed a bit. It comes with an adverb, flamboyantly, and our choice of two nouns, flamboyance or, if your poem requires an additional syllable, flamboyancy.

In Play: The first sense of today's word is visually flashy: "Maude Lynn Dresser came to the party in an outfit as flamboyant as a Mummers' parade." The second sense of flamboyant refers to displayed activity: "Amanda Lynn Player requires flamboyant theatrics in her performances to overcome the poverty of her musical talent."

Word History: Today's Good Word is the unadorned present participle of French flamboyer "to blaze, to flame up", based on flambe "flame". Flambe, in turn is a reduction of flamble, derived from Latin flammula "small flame", diminutive of flamma "flame, blazing fire". Latin inherited this word from Proto-Indo-European root bhel- "to shine, flash, burn". This same root is ultimately behind French blond and English blaze. It appears today in Russian as belyi "white", as we see in the name of the all-white beluga whale. Bleach comes to us from Old English blæcan "bleach, whiten", derived from the same word that provided Modern German with bleich "pale". (Our gratitude is due today to the flamboyant Albert Skiles, who suggested this Good Word.)

Re: FLAMBOYANT

Posted: Wed Sep 25, 2013 12:51 pm
by LukeJavan8
Reminds me of the word a few days back: "floozy".

Re: FLAMBOYANT

Posted: Wed Sep 25, 2013 3:29 pm
by Slava
Reminds me of the word a few days back: "floozy".
Aye, I can see that working well: a flamboyant floozy.

I think my epitome of flamboyance would be someone along the lines of David Bowie or Boy George.

Re: FLAMBOYANT

Posted: Wed Sep 25, 2013 4:44 pm
by call_copse
Reminds me of the word a few days back: "floozy".
Aye, I can see that working well: a flamboyant floozy.

I think my epitome of flamboyance would be someone along the lines of David Bowie or Boy George.
I think I see where you're going - perhaps you would include Liberace or Elton John in that list :wink: ?

The other side of the flamboyant coin might include the wrestlers you export so successfully from America. Now I'd take the intricate wordplay of good hip hop if you'd only keep wrestling to yourselves. A more positively flamboyant personality (in my eyes) might be Usain Bolt.

Re: FLAMBOYANT

Posted: Wed Sep 25, 2013 5:39 pm
by Slava
Liberace, yes. Elton John, especially when he was in his wild glasses phase. As to the "pro" wrestlers and Bolt, I couldn't say. I don't have television.

Re: FLAMBOYANT

Posted: Wed Sep 25, 2013 5:41 pm
by MTC
USAIN BOLT POSES FLAMBOYANT IN PARIS – ATHLETICS NEWS

http://blogs.bettor.com/Usain-Bolt-pose ... ews-a85032

Re: FLAMBOYANT

Posted: Wed Sep 25, 2013 5:55 pm
by Slava
I'm not convinced flamboyant is used correctly here. Or, perhaps, I think flamboyant goes further. The picture is tame, and the text doesn't tell us what was flamboyant about his interview.

Madonna in her cone bustier is flamboyant.

Re: FLAMBOYANT

Posted: Wed Sep 25, 2013 9:35 pm
by MTC
The headline correctly describes "Lightning Bolt" as "flamboyant," but fails to explain why. However, Bolt, the fastest man on the planet, is indeed "flashy" and "showy" as he flashes by other world-class sprinters, and is well known for the signature "exuberant, ostentatious, (and) audacious" "Lightning Bolt" pose he strikes after breaking world records. Madonna's conical boobs seem quite tame in comparison to this human lightning bolt.

Re: FLAMBOYANT

Posted: Wed Sep 25, 2013 10:49 pm
by gailr
The other side of the flamboyant coin might include the wrestlers you export so successfully from America. Now I'd take the intricate wordplay of good hip hop if you'd only keep wrestling to yourselves. A more positively flamboyant personality (in my eyes) might be Usain Bolt.
Now, I always liked some of the flamboyant stage costumes of Eddie Izzard, "un travesti executive… Un travesti d’action!”

Re: FLAMBOYANT

Posted: Sat Sep 28, 2013 1:27 pm
by misterdoe
How about Patti Labelle in her mid-1980s "New Attitude" phase? Often she'd appear in public in feathered and sequined getups with elaborate headdresses that turned out to be hairdos rather than hats :shock:

Re: FLAMBOYANT

Posted: Sat Sep 28, 2013 7:03 pm
by MTC
Now, I always liked some of the flamboyant stage costumes of Eddie Izzard, "un travesti executive… Un travesti d’action!”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpVBxgXL59I

(at 4:55)

Bonsoir mes flamboyonts!

Re: FLAMBOYANT

Posted: Sat Sep 28, 2013 7:15 pm
by Slava
Another epitome: boxing promoter Don King. Wherever did he find that hair?!

Contemporary query: is Lady Gaga flamboyant, or just weird? I know little of her, so I thought perhaps someone else would like to take a shot.

Re: FLAMBOYANT

Posted: Sat Sep 28, 2013 8:19 pm
by misterdoe
@Slava: I've seen Don King parodied in a couple of movies, and both performances were fairly good. The older one, in a rather mediocre TV movie, was by James Earl Jones (!) in The Vegas Strip Wars, telling a tale of competing casino owners in Las Vegas with the boxing promoter playing them against each other.

The other, in much better surroundings -- but also set mostly in Las Vegas -- was by Samuel L. Jackson (!!) as Rev. Fred Sultan :lol: in The Great White Hype. Just like Don King always has his "crown," Sultan was always seen in public wearing a white turban, and possibly even more flamboyant than King himself.

I was thinking of Lady Gaga myself when this word was first posted. But I would classify her as just weird, though I suppose the two are not mutually exclusive -- Wikipedia describes her as flamboyant. I recall seeing her first time on either Dave Letterman's show or Jay Leno's (I forget :oops: ) and I was wondering "who is this wannabe diva jumping around the stage barefoot?" Turns out she'd ordered some fancy boots that were supposed to be delivered to the TV studio. They didn't get there in time, so rather than wear "lesser" footwear, she just went out in her stocking feet. :roll:

Re: FLAMBOYANT

Posted: Sun Sep 29, 2013 12:14 am
by Philip Hudson
Madonna and Lady Gaga give me no trouble. They are what they are. Madonna has real talent though. See "A League of their Own" and "Evita". But Hannah Montana! Say it isn't so. What do I tell my granddaughters?