Word of the Week: Vituperation

Yesterday morning I woke up late in my hotel room after the LA bowling party and started in on my coffee and NY Times. The Arts section had this whole story about the enduring love/hatred for the movie "Fight Club". One of the stars, Edward Norton, was interviewed and said this, "The critical reaction was polarized, but the negative half of that was as vituperative as anything I've ever been a part of." I didn't know what vituperative meant but I thought it was a great word and I'd have to look it up later.

Then, 15 minutes later, I start on the Book Review section. First page, a review of the new Stephen King book by James Parker, "Now that the town halls have blazed with vituperation...Americans ...must be feelings a familiar thrill.

Is this a brand new word? Is it baader-meinhof? Was it on some "word of the week" calendar? I don't know, but it seems important that I learn it. So as a PSA for the tens:

Vituperation is sustained, harshly abusive language; invective. (American Heritage Dictionary).

Use it for good.

- Jen

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• Nickatnyt wrote...

  Not allowed

  Vituperation isn't allowed in my house as I found that it leads to contumely type actions.

  November 9, 2009 11:27 am

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• Sky Bluesky wrote...

  Gotta be Baader-Meinhof

  A remarkable coincidence, I'd think. Edward Norton just seems like the kind of fella who would say "vituperative." I love this word. I'll put in the file cabinet in my brain right next to "vitriolic" and "venomous."

  November 9, 2009 3:41 pm

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• InspectorLuv wrote...

  I prefer...

  invective, vicious, vitriolic, etc. Vituperation is just hard to say. I didn't know what it meant, either.

  November 9, 2009 4:40 pm

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• Colorado10 wrote...

  baader-meinhof

  What's really weird is I was just about to email you because I have been having a lot of baader-meinhoff type experiences recently but I couldn't remember that term...then I read your post...Now that's meta!

  November 10, 2009 6:02 pm

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