Panglossian

Pronounced: pan-GLOSS-ee-uhn (alt: pan-GLAW-see-uhn)

Notes: Not at all what I thought (more on this tomorrow)

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Yesterday’s phrase

The phrase bush league, as a noun, is “a minor league of a professional sport”; most frequently used of baseball. As an adjective, it means “second-rate; unpolished; or amateurish”

First usage

Our phrase dates back to the early 1900s

Background / Comments

I was kind of aware of the meanings; I thought perhaps it referred to a specific league of baseball. And somewhere, I’ve read the phrase “He’s strictly bush league” – in context, it seemed to refer to second-rate. It was a close thing, but I decided to include the word… if nothing else, it is encouraging to have a word you know from time to time, eh? It is thought that the phrase comes from the allusion to bushes, thus referring to uncultivated land – the countryside (“the sticks) or small towns.