Fop

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Dr. Goodword
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Fop

Postby Dr. Goodword » Fri Apr 29, 2022 10:31 pm

• fop •


Pronunciation: fahp • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Noun

Meaning: 1. A prig, a male snob, a conceited fellow. 2. A prissy, vain guy overly concerned about the clothes he wears, a coxcomb, a dandy.

Notes: This word has a bit of an old-fashioned ring to it today, but it is still available for use. It is a word you can have a lot of fun with. The behavior of a fop is foppery, for fops are, after all, foppish characters who act foppishly. The word is so short writers in the 17th century sometimes added an extension to be sure the word caught your attention: fop-doodle. Time to warm it up again?

In Play: We should save today's word for guys obsessed with their appearance who push stylishness in their dress too far: "Here comes that dreadful Art Dwecko again, dripping with jewelry and smelling like a perfume store!" It can simply refer to conceit, though: "Pierce Deer is such a fop he thinks his opinion is a gift."

Word History: Today's Good Word belongs solely to English, coming to us from our ancestral Germanic languages and was not borrowed. It is related to German foppen "to trick, deceive" and probably derived directly from that verb's English cousin, fob in the sense of fobbing something off on someone. Nothing is known about this word before it descended to the Proto-Germanic language. No trace of it can be found in ancient Latin and Greek. (Today's Good Word is due Amy Frits, who sent it in with an amusing story published in the Language Blog.)
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Dr. Goodword
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Re: Fop

Postby Dr. Goodword » Fri Apr 29, 2022 10:34 pm

See an age-appropriate presentation of thos word here.

The graphic design is lovely but there isn't much to the words.
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David Myer
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Re: Fop

Postby David Myer » Sat Apr 30, 2022 7:44 am

The successful 2018 film 'The Favourite' about Queen Anne and her courtiers, seems to comprise some excellent women characters but I think virtually every man in the cast can satisfactorily be described as a fop. I must say, I didn't much like the film. I must rush to add that my dislike was not based solely on the depiction of the male characters!

Debbymoge
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Re: Fop

Postby Debbymoge » Sat Apr 30, 2022 3:37 pm

Can't view it. Constitutionally unable to sign up for Facebook.
I am but mad north-north-west. When the wind is southerly, I know a hawk from a handsaw.
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