Word of the Day

Monday, October 22, 2001

popinjay

\POP-in-jay\ , noun;

A vain and talkative person.

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Quotes:

One popinjay shrieking from the left and another from the right about last week's headlines is not the whole of Washington's political dramas. Occasionally, American politics is more complicated and more momentous.

-- R. Emmett Tyrrell Jr., "Feds Go Drug Crazy", American Spectator, May 26, 2000

A writer who appreciates the seriousness of writing so little that he is anxious to make people see he is formally educated, cultured or well-bred is merely a popinjay.

-- Ernest Hemingway, Death in the Afternoon

The dignified, high density of personality of [Clark Gable and Humphrey Bogart] is completely missing from our popinjay contemporary actors.

-- Camille Paglia, Salon, March 1998

Origin:

Popinjay is from Middle English papejay, popingay, meaning "parrot," from Old French papegai, deriving ultimately from Arabic babagha.