Warren G. Harding is often linked to bloviate, but to him the
word wasn't insulting; it simply meant "to spend time idly." Harding
used the word often in that "hanging around" sense, but during his
tenure as the 29th U.S. President (1921-23), he became associated with
the "verbose" sense of bloviate, perhaps because his speeches
tended to the long-winded side. Although he is sometimes credited with
having coined the word, it's more likely that Harding picked it up from
local slang while hanging around with his boyhood buddies in Ohio (Deer Creek, in Fayette County, to be specific (editor)), in the
late 1800s. The term probably derives from a combination of the word blow plus the suffix -ate. |
"It's a slow night. Just a couple of other regulars and our usual
bartender, a bright, young fellow who seems to enjoy his customers'
company, despite our tendency to bloviate."
— Bruce VanWyngarden, The Memphis Flyer, 15 Feb. 2018
"Wall Street analysts and the media covering them have often bloviated
about the lamentable end of retail, the death of department stores, the
changing fickle habits of Millennials, the power of online retail, and
the tragedy of an America left behind."
— Monica Showalter, The American Thinker, 6 July 2017
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