Comments on: Vive la difference between ‘flaunt’ and ‘flout’

By: Barry Wood

Barry Wood — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 06:59:34 +0000

To ajay pal:
I’m assuming that my original explanation doesn’t work for you, so I’ll offer this from “Words on Words” by John B. Bremner:
“To ‘flaunt’ is to wave proudly, to show off, to display ostentatiously, boastfully (’The new graduate flaunted his diploma as he marched through the faculty after commencement’). To ‘flout’ is to defy, to mock, to treat with contempt, to scoff at (”The new graduate flouted tradition by wearing only shorts at commencement’).”
It’s getting tougher to maintain the distinction, however, as Bryan A. Garner observes in “Garner’s Modern American Usage”: “Confusion about these terms is so distressingly common that some dictionaries have thrown in the towel and now treat ‘flaunt’ as a synonym of ‘flout.’ ”
If you rely on one of those dictionaries, you may well ask yet again, “What’s the difference?”

By: ajay pal

ajay pal — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 07:39:59 +0000

what is the difference between flaunt and flout

By: Barry Wood

Barry Wood — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 06:18:05 +0000

I have an album by Nichols and May and a collection of cassettes from Bob and Ray’s radio shows — good stuff. It’s not easy to find subtle humor these days.
When I was younger, I listened to a lot of comedy albums. My top influences included Stan Freberg, Jonathan Winters and recordings of the Hal Holbrook show “Mark Twain Tonight!”
I’m making my way through a book about these folks and others called “Seriously Funny: Rebel Comedians of the 1950s and 1960s,” by Gerald Nachman. There is so much material that it can be slow-going, but there’s a ton of information and it touches off such wonderful memories.
For what it’s worth: People who are in the humor business often have very sad lives.

By: Leonardo duh Vinci

Leonardo duh Vinci — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 16:38:44 +0000

Recently you have cited Mel Brooks and Monte Python and their humor, maybe you are old enough (but I doubt it) to remember Mike Nichols and Elaine May, and Bob and Ray. Evidently you are a “conny sewer” of words collected to form a funny thought.