FLAUNT

[Dr. Goodword]

• flaunt •

Pronunciation: flônt • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Verb, transitive

Meaning: To flourish daringly, to show off (something) ostentatiously.

Notes: This word is often mistakenly replaced with flout, which means "to contemptuously ignore". You may flout the law by breaking it, but to flaunt the law would require an ostentatious display of your law-making. Even though people who should know better are now confusing these terms, it is still a confusion of two discrete words. That is not one of our famous Fickle Ns in flaunt, but a necessary part of the word.

In Play: Things flaunted are things to be proud of: "Belle O'Donough constantly flaunted her husband's Irish ancestry before everyone she met." For this reason, today's Good Word is usually associated with wealth, education, and similar accomplishments: "Paul loved to flaunt his Harvard education so much, that his colleagues made bets on how long it would take him to mention it when meeting new clients."

Word History: This word appeared out of nowhere toward the end of the 16th century. The best guess of its origin is that it is a blend of flout, as defined above, and vaunt "to brag or boast showily". However, that is only a guess. (Today's word comes from Katy Brezger, whose love for and knowledge of words speaks for itself and does not need flaunting.)

[Stargzer]

This one's for PW, if he ever shows up again:

"If you got it--flaunt it!"



(Satchel Paige, by the way, was a famous baseball player, not a basketball player as stated in the above article.)

[M. Henri Day]

...

"Paul loved to flaunt his Harvard education so much, that his colleagues made bets on how long it would take him to mention it when meeting new clients."

...

Or, as the old saw - surely a canard ! - would have it :

You can always tell a Harvard man, but you can't tell him much !...

Henri