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Lecture 16

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n the last lecture, we explored words relating to negative speech, such

as obloquy, fulminate, and philippic. In this lecture, we’ll wrap up our

discussion of negative speech words, then move on to some words that

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speech that’s just plain nonsense. Along the way, we’ll answer the following

questions: Does maunder have anything to do with meander, meaning “to

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Maunder (verb)

To talk aimlessly and incoherently.

z Someone who maunders is the exact opposite of someone who is

pithy, one of our target words from the previous lecture. Maunder

means to talk on and on without meaning; in contrast, pithy refers to

language that is brief and full of meaning.

z Synonyms for maunder include babble and prattle, which means

“to chatter meaninglessly and at length.”

z Most sources state that maunder is probably related to, or a

dialectical variant of, meander, which means “to wander aimlessly”

and originally referred to winding rivers.

Pillory (noun)

To expose to (often public) ridicule, abuse, and scorn; to criticize harshly.

z From the Middle Ages up until the early 1800s in some places,

pillory referred to a device used for public punishment: a wooden

or metal frame with holes into which the head and hands of a