That's the word that was in the Globe's Obituary today - highfalutin, or highfalutin'. The definition says: (especially of speech, writing, or ideas) pompous or pretentious.
I had thought that was a slang word. It is American English and a pejorative term in the South. It originated in 1830 and is a combination of high and flute - fluting, or high-flying or high-flown.
Would we use the word today? I don't think so, even though the AI overview says people still use the word. The obituary was for Anna Banana, a performance artist and clown from Victoria B.C. who used banana humour in art. The banana was her favourite symbol. Hence her name, and her documents collected were going to be published - not in a memoir, but in the Encyclopedia Bananica.
Highfalutin' seems from a century or more ago to my mind. And yet, I find articles with the word. This one about Trump:
"Ever wish you could get the quick and dirty on what this President is up to so you can hold your own in highfalutin political conversations, without having to dig deep through highfalutin political-wonk blog posts? Welcome to Trumpdate, a series keeping you up to date on what you need to know to have a functional grip on the whiplash-blizzard of rhetoric and policy coming out of Washington D.C. Let’s go!"
You can find lots of jokes that are described as highfalutin'. You can find things on Amazon that are "very fancy Highfalutin Funny Gifts", and people who hashtag their Instagram posts as #highfalutin.
I will start to see this word everywhere, now, won't I? Especially after this morning's search.
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