A.Word.A.Day --hokum

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Today's Word

hokum

PRONUNCIATION:

(HO-kuhm)

MEANING:

noun:
1. Nonsense.
2. Trite material introduced to evoke an emotional response from an audience.

ETYMOLOGY:

A blend of hocus-pocus + bunkum. Earliest documented use: 1917.

USAGE:

“I don’t see how Mr. Niles expects me to spin 400 more pages of this ‘Little Women’ hokum, but I suppose I must.”
Elise Hooper; The Other Alcott: A Novel; William Morrow; 2017.

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

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there always has been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge." -Isaac Asimov, scientist and writer (2 Jan 1920-1992)

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