Word of the Day Archive
Friday December 19, 2003
pablum \PAB-luhm\
, noun:
1. Something (as writing or speech) that is trite, insipid, or simplistic.
2. (capitalized) A trademark used for a bland soft cereal for infants.
I imagined his thoughts had been solely of me, that the letter would be filled with love sonnets, that it would gush with the same romantic pablum I devoured from those movie star magazines.
-- Kate Walbert, The Gardens of Kyoto
. . .the mindless pablum of celebrity journalism, the endless stories about self-promoting actors and movie stars who pretend they dislike the press.
-- Richard Stengel, "It Ain't Necessarily Bad That Nobody's Interested in Politics", Time, March 2, 2001
These, apparently, are the true bait-and-switchers of the title, selling vocational succor but offering gibberish and pablum.
-- Alexandra Jacobs, "'Bait and Switch': Corporate Makeover ", New York Times, September 18, 2005
Pablum comes from Pablum, a trademark used for a bland soft cereal for infants.
Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for pablum
