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gobemouche
Oct. 6th, 2011 07:23 am![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
prettygoodword.livejournal.comgobemouche (goh-beh-MOOSH) - n., a silly, credulous person, someone who believes everything they hear, a boor.
Literally, in French, a fly swallower -- someone who stands with mouth open. A word that, alas, is not as popular as it once was, but I have hops of keeping it alive. I'm not sure how old it is in English, but was certainly in use in the mid-19th century, as evidenced by this quote from Thackery (from Notes of a Journey From Cornhill to Grand Cairo):
“It was only a gobemouche of a Bavarian that could ever have been induced to accept it.”
---L.
Literally, in French, a fly swallower -- someone who stands with mouth open. A word that, alas, is not as popular as it once was, but I have hops of keeping it alive. I'm not sure how old it is in English, but was certainly in use in the mid-19th century, as evidenced by this quote from Thackery (from Notes of a Journey From Cornhill to Grand Cairo):
“It was only a gobemouche of a Bavarian that could ever have been induced to accept it.”
---L.
