A.Word.A.Day |
About | Media | Search | Contact |
|
Home
|
Nov 5, 2026
This week’s themeWords to describe people This week’s words adventurist chicaner slangwhanger
Stump Speaking, 1853-54
Art: George Caleb Bingham Wordsmith Games
A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Gargslangwhanger
PRONUNCIATION:
MEANING:
noun: One who uses insulting or bombastic language.
ETYMOLOGY:
From slang (abusive or bombastic language, a now-uncommon sense) + whanger
(beater), from whang (to beat), a variant of thong. Earliest documented use:
1807.
NOTES:
When the argument is weak, turn up the volume. A slangwhanger
doesn’t mince words. Other people, perhaps.
USAGE:
“To his critics [William Hazlitt] would always be ‘a slang-whanger’, who
wished ‘to destroy the very foundations of modesty and decorum’.” Arthur Krystal; Slang-Whanger; The New Yorker; May 18, 2009. A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
To speak ill of others is a dishonest way of praising ourselves. -Will
Durant, historian (5 Nov 1885-1981)
|
|
© 1994-2026 Wordsmith