Wednesday, February 08, 2012
Pecksniffery and Podsnappery
In honor of the 200th anniversary of Charles Dicken's birth, OED Online Word of the Day has been featuring words derived from characters in Dickens' novels, e.g. Pecksniff, defined as:
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An unctuous hypocrite, a person who affects benevolence or pretends to have high moral principles; (also) a person who interferes officiously in the business of others.and Podsnappery:
The characteristic behaviour or attitudes of Dickens's Mr Podsnap; insular complacency and blinkered self-satisfaction.In addition to his literary gifts, Dickens was an acute psychologist, with a sharp eye for universal human types. How many Pecksniffs and Podsnaps do we still see strutting about every day!
