pabulum

PRONUNCIATION: (PAB-yuh-luhm)
MEANING:
noun: Bland intellectual fare: insipid or simplistic ideas, entertainment, writing, etc.
ETYMOLOGY:
From Latin pabulum (food, fuel, fodder), from pascere (to feed). Ultimately from the Indo-European root pa- (to protect or feed), which also gave us food, foster, fodder, forage, pasture, pantry, and companion. Earliest documented use: 1661.

NOTES:
Originally pabulum was something that nourished. During the 1920s, three Canadian pediatricians developed a bland, soft infant formula that was later marketed under the brand name Pablum and eventually the words pabulum/pablum came to refer to things simplistic or banal.

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PABALUME - a seemingly bland thought that under closer examination reveals great illumination