Thursday, March 01, 2018

Throttlebottoms


A recent update from Merriam Webster (the dictionary people) was titled, "Ten Words for People Who Are Bad at What They Do." Although the list did not include such terms as "senator" or "member of Congress," it did include this marvelous word:

Throttlebottom

defined as, "an innocuously inept and futile person in public office."

The term comes from the 1931 musical "Of Thee I Sing," which featured a hopelessly inept vice-presidential candidate named Alexander Throttlebottom, shown here as portrayed by actor Victor Moore ...


So, Dear Readers, if you find yourself in need of a good, suitable-for-use-in-mixed-company term for a useless oxygen sponge occupying a position of political responsibility, call him (or her) a Throttlebottom.

It'll give you something to chuckle at, even if their actions don't.

Have a good day. More thoughts tomorrow.

Bilbo

4 comments:

Rudolph said...

A nice concept.

John A Hill said...

Perhaps a word ahead of its time...

Mike said...

We have throttlebottoms galore these days.

allenwoodhaven said...

Great, unfortunately necessary, word!