humbug

As Humbug something is called, pretending to be important, but in fact only swindle, also it can denote a foolish and nonsensical utterance or action.

The word is borrowed from English , where it became fashionable as a slang word around 1750 . The further etymology is uncertain and the subject of numerous more or less plausible theories. The word has also appeared in Germany since 1835, for example Annette von Droste-Hülshoff in one of her letters: "Humbug, as the English say".

Famous quotes

On October 16, 1846, William Thomas Green Morton anesthetized the patient Gilbert Abbott with the help of his invention, the ether ball , so that the surgeon John Collins Warren could surgically remove a tumor on the patient's neck. Warren, who actually rejected such procedures two years earlier after a hapless demonstration by Wells, was enthusiastic about the new possibilities and allegedly said: " Gentlemen, this is no humbug ". This event is considered to be the birth of scientific anesthesia .

George Washington Carver , one of the first blacks to study in the United States, was known for knowing and being able to identify all kinds of animal species. Once his students wanted to have fun with him and put together a "new species" from different insect parts, only to ask him what kind of insect it might be. After looking at the preparation he is said to have asked: "Did it hum?" ("Did it growl?"). When the students answered in the affirmative, his answer was that this was a "humbug" (from English to hum " hum " and bug "bug", "beetle").

Boris Johnson replied to the accusation made in the House of Commons that his aggressive rhetoric - "cheat", "traitor" - was used in death threats against MPs: "I have to say that I have never heard such humbug in all my life." was criticized by various parliamentarians of the parties represented in the lower house. Right-wing extremists applauded Johnson.

Anatoly Liberman , when discussing the etymology of the word, notes that "humbug" might have fallen out of use in English had it not been Ebenezer Scrooge's favorite word (the main character in A Christmas Carol ) to express his aversion to Christmas .

literature

Max Black : The Prevalence of Humbug . Cornell University Press, Ithaca NY 1985 ( original text [accessed November 12, 2013]).
Harry G. Frankfurt : Bullshit . Suhrkamp, Frankfurt am Main 2006, ISBN 3-518-58450-2 (English: On Bullshit . Translated by Michael Bischoff ).

Web links

Wiktionary: Humbug - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

↑ Humbug. In: duden.de. Retrieved September 18, 2018 .
^ ^A ^b Anatoly Liberman : A Postscript to the Series on Unpleasant People: Humbug . (Post on his blog, The Oxford Etymologist , March 24, 2010)
^ Friedrich Kluge: Etymological dictionary of the German language. 19th edition. 1963.
↑ L. Brandt, K.-H. Krauskopf: 150 years Anesthesia: "A discovery in surgery." . In: Dtsch Arztebl. 1996, 93 (45), pp. A-2957 / B-2293 / C-2089.
↑ Lawrence Elliott: The Man Who Survived. George W. Carver - a fascinating life story . Aussaat-Verlag, Neukirchen-Vluyn 1995, ISBN 3-7615-5100-2 .
^ Lizzie Dearden: Boris Johnson hailed by far-right extremists for 'brilliant' performance in parliament. In: Independent. Retrieved October 2, 2019 .

[1] Humbug. In: duden.de. Retrieved September 18, 2018 .

[Liberman-2] A ^b Anatoly Liberman : A Postscript to the Series on Unpleasant People: Humbug . (Post on his blog, The Oxford Etymologist , March 24, 2010)

[3] Friedrich Kluge: Etymological dictionary of the German language. 19th edition. 1963.

[4] L. Brandt, K.-H. Krauskopf: 150 years Anesthesia: "A discovery in surgery." . In: Dtsch Arztebl. 1996, 93 (45), pp. A-2957 / B-2293 / C-2089.

[5] Lawrence Elliott: The Man Who Survived. George W. Carver - a fascinating life story . Aussaat-Verlag, Neukirchen-Vluyn 1995, ISBN 3-7615-5100-2 .

[6] Lizzie Dearden: Boris Johnson hailed by far-right extremists for 'brilliant' performance in parliament. In: Independent. Retrieved October 2, 2019 .