Comments on: Buffoon http://www.word-detective.com/2011/12/buffoon/ Semper Ubi Sub Ubi Sat, 24 Apr 2021 19:41:04 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=4.2.1 By: Paul S http://www.word-detective.com/2011/12/buffoon/comment-page-1/#comment-900343 Sat, 15 Aug 2020 00:28:50 +0000 http://www.word-detective.com/?p=5973#comment-900343 excellent….
but, i.m.h.o. …. buffoon is way too gentle a word for deplorable leaders of democracies… they are more aptly….. self-deluded, self-important sociopaths….. very sadly… nothing amusing, really :'( …. but “the people chose them”…. :o ….?!

]]> By: Jim Brock http://www.word-detective.com/2011/12/buffoon/comment-page-1/#comment-870244 Thu, 14 May 2020 15:22:40 +0000 http://www.word-detective.com/?p=5973#comment-870244 I recall a passage in an old book “In Search of Adam”, that Count Buffon put on a comic approach to avoid being sent to the guillotine for his views on plant science. Pro evolution. The leaders of the mob during the French Revolution were not in favor of his views. So he became a jokester in the Paris Salons of the time. So his name was modified into buffoon to describe a jokester.

]]> By: Gillian Mundy http://www.word-detective.com/2011/12/buffoon/comment-page-1/#comment-802434 Fri, 12 Jul 2019 07:52:07 +0000 http://www.word-detective.com/?p=5973#comment-802434 I was thinking of the word to describe Boris Johnson.

]]> By: steve siporin http://www.word-detective.com/2011/12/buffoon/comment-page-1/#comment-670224 Thu, 22 Mar 2018 19:30:18 +0000 http://www.word-detective.com/?p=5973#comment-670224 Is there any possibility that “buffoon” is also related to Italian “befana”? The befana is an old woman, a witch, who brings children gifts on Epiphany Eve. (Befana is understood to derive from Epifania, Epiphany.) Besides the similar sound, “she” is a buffoonish figure in the folk celebration of Epiphany in which “she” is a cross-dressed male often wearing women’s underclothes, at least a slip, over his women’s clothes. She is accompanying in the house to house visiting by “befanoti” who also wear outlandish costumes. What do you think?

]]> By: Raul daSilva http://www.word-detective.com/2011/12/buffoon/comment-page-1/#comment-297854 Sat, 16 Jul 2016 21:49:21 +0000 http://www.word-detective.com/?p=5973#comment-297854 A trip back to my home town (one that I escaped 21
years ago) and the background to “buffoon”. Curiously,
Trump was the reason I decided to visit here, and now I owe him a debt of gratitude. Yes, the word fits him like a fine glove. Today, the modern version begins with the letter “A”

]]> By: mahadevan http://www.word-detective.com/2011/12/buffoon/comment-page-1/#comment-147265 Thu, 20 Aug 2015 05:00:53 +0000 http://www.word-detective.com/?p=5973#comment-147265 I want to know the source language of the word ‘buffoon’ before it entered Italian language.

I am from India and doing research on the link of foreign languages with our language Tamil or Hindi.

mahadeevan s

]]> By: Chris http://www.word-detective.com/2011/12/buffoon/comment-page-1/#comment-66994 Thu, 06 Mar 2014 00:24:54 +0000 http://www.word-detective.com/?p=5973#comment-66994 Simply brilliant! I was curious about the word and arrived here. Glad I did.
Thank you.

]]> By: admin http://www.word-detective.com/2011/12/buffoon/comment-page-1/#comment-62165 Sun, 18 Aug 2013 22:19:50 +0000 http://www.word-detective.com/?p=5973#comment-62165 It was a joke, based on Sarah Palin having said the “word” (apparently a blend of “refute” and “repudiate”) around the time the column was written.

]]> By: john plush http://www.word-detective.com/2011/12/buffoon/comment-page-1/#comment-62157 Sat, 17 Aug 2013 11:33:37 +0000 http://www.word-detective.com/?p=5973#comment-62157 ‘Refudiate’ is not a word! You mean repudiate.

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