pooterism means taking oneself grotesquely seriously. It carries an Arena rating of 1472, earned across 12 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, pooterism ranks #179 of 17,163 for Funniest Words, #404 of 17,132 for Most Betrayed by Its Sound, #2,320 of 17,138 for Most Incisive Words, #2,345 of 17,127 for Words That Escaped Their Books.
Why “pooterism” is a great word
The act or quality of taking oneself grotesquely or pompously seriously. From Pooter (the surname of the fictional character Charles Pooter in George and Weedon Grossmith's 1892 novel 'Diary of a Nobody') + -ism (suffix forming nouns of action or condition). Coined from the character in the late 19th century. Unlike pomposity, which suggests an inflated and socially adept dignity, or pretentiousness, which implies a deliberate affectation, Pooterism connotes a pathetic, unwittingly comic earnestness rooted in anxious social striving. It is the meticulous polishing of a cheap hat-stand as if it were a family heirloom, the drafting of a stern letter over a twopenny overcharge, and the profound hurt when a modest supper fails to elicit a compliment—a tragicomedy of manners played entirely to an empty house, a monument to the seriousness of the unserious life.
Etymology
Pooter + -ism, from the character in Diary of a Nobody.
noun
- Taking oneself grotesquely seriously.e.g.“Although the word blog suggests attitude and subversion, it's really just a hi-tech kind of diary and carries the identical risk of Pooterism.” — 2005, Mark Lawson, BBC:
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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