A.Word.A.Day --gobsmacked

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Today's Word

gobsmacked

PRONUNCIATION:

(GOB-smakt)

MEANING:

adjective: Utterly surprised; flabbergasted.

ETYMOLOGY:

From gob (mouth), probably from Irish and/or Scottish Gaelic gob (beak, mouth) + smack (to strike with the palm), probably imitative. Earliest documented use: 1935.

USAGE:

“People were completely gobsmacked at a politician ... wait for it ... telling the unvarnished truth!”
Think of It as Jabs for Jobs; Sun Herald (Sydney, Australia); Aug 15, 2021.

See more usage examples of gobsmacked in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

Racism tends to attract attention when it's flagrant and filled with invective. But like all bigotry, the most potent component of racism is frame-flipping -- positioning the bigot as the actual victim. So the gay do not simply want to marry; they want to convert our children into sin. The Jews do not merely want to be left in peace; they actually are plotting world take-over. And the blacks are not actually victims of American power, but beneficiaries of the war against hard-working whites. This is a respectable, more sensible bigotry, one that does not seek to name-call, preferring instead to change the subject and straw man. -Ta-Nehisi Coates, writer and journalist (b. 30 Sep 1975)

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