The Toad’s Words - Excursus #24

For this Excursus of the Toad, I have decided to explore some F-words. Now, calm down. It’s not what you think; this is a family (an F-word, by the way) set of excursuses. You see, I was reading an article the other day and the author used flout and flaunt in the same sentence and I thought, “I am not sure if I know what the flip flout means.” So, I looked it up and it said, “often confused with flaunt.” Now, if that is not an invitation to an excursus then I don’t know what is. So, without further ado, we proceed.

Flout, verb

Pronounced flout (yep, even the dictionaries say that flout is pronounced flout. Useful, don’t you think?) Pronounce it out with an fl in front of it.

To treat with scorn or to mock. To show contempt. To scoff.

Flout, the noun means a contemptuous mocking speech or action.

The word seems to originate from the Middle English word flouten, to play the flute. While none of my dictionaries or etymologies will go out on a limb and say this, they seem to imply that the flute was used at times to mock actions on the stage.

I found flout used several times in Shakespeare’s Much Ado about Nothing. For example in Act 5, Scene 1, as a verb:

“I know them, yea, And what they weigh, even to the utmost scruple— Scrambling, outfacing, fashion-monging boys, That lie and cog and flout, deprave and slander, ...”

And as a noun: Shakespeare wrote in Act 5, Scene 2, of Love’s Labour’s Lost:

“Bruise me with scorn, confound me with a flout; Thrust thy sharp wit quite through my ignorance;”

Flaunt, verb

Pronounced flawnt (awnt is pronounced the way some folks from the upper East Coast pronounce aunt.)

To try to impress others obtrusively.  To show off.

Here the origin is also in doubt. One source says it points towards a French origin but I cannot find a French word so perhaps they were referring to French actions? (The French wouldn't flaunt, would they?) The origin I like the best says perhaps it is a combination of words like flounce and vaunt.

“The most unkindest cut of all,” Gerald exclaimed after his teacher called him a pedant who flaunted his knowledge of Shakespeare by quoting him constantly.

Flautist, noun

Pronounced flou (as in how) and tist as in list.

You might think this is an easy one for anyone paying attention. Clearly a flautist is one who flauts! But you would be wrong. A flautist is one who plays the flute. Some people call a flautist a flutist which is also correct but not as cool or highfalutin!

Flautist comes from the Italian word flautista which means a person who plays the flute.

I wonder, if a flautist is a person who plays the flute is a floutist a person that mocks people?

Floyd, the fellow from Flanders, played the bellows-mender, Flute, in A Midsummer Night’s Dream while Florence, his wife, was the flautist behind the curtain trying to set the mood by using a vintage wooden flute.

Flounce, verb

Pronounced with fl from flour and ounce from the word ounce.

To move with greatly exaggerated and clumsy motions or to make jerky and abrupt movements with the limbs. Also, to flounder or struggle.

Possibly of Scandinavian origin from the Swedish flunsa (to plunge) and Norwegian flunsa  (to hurry). It also may have been formed in the 16^th century from flop and bounce. I like the latter theory better.

For disambiguation (as they say on Wikipedia) purposes we are focusing here on the verb form and not the noun form (which refers to a gathered piece of cloth that is often used with curtains).

The flounder flounced all over the bottom of the boat trying to flip itself back into the water.

Flauta, noun

Pronounced flou as in flour and ta as in ta da! The accent is on the flou.

A tightly rolled flour tortilla filled with shredded chicken or beef or cheese. It is deep fried and then covered with sour cream, guacamole, or salsa, or all of the above if you are lucky. So I can hear it now - some people are saying, “No, that’s a taquito.” Nope, a taquito is the same thing but made with corn tortillas.

This comes from the Spanish flauta meaning flute. So the flauta looks like a small flute – but I guess that would actually be a piccolo.

Felicity ordered a chicken flauta with everything on it at Felipe’s, the little walk-in Mexican restaurant in the Fen.

Flan, noun

Pronunced flawn, as in ‘lawn’ with an f.

Staying on that food theme thing. In Spanish cooking and in the US, a flan is a dessert of sweetened egg custard with a soft caramel layer on top – a crème caramel. A crème brulee has a hard caramel layer on top in case you were confused. In England, a flan is usually a tart with a filling of custard, cheese, or occasionally fruit that has a shell baked in a bottomless metal form known as a flan ring (clever name).

Flan is a French name but comes from the Old German frado meaning flat cake.

Florian liked his flan free standing so he could poke at it with his spoon and watch it wiggle while Flynn like his flan with a baked dough crust so he could pick it up and eat it with his hands.

Flam, noun

Pronounced flam as in Sam.

A hoax, a deception, a trick, or a lie. Also, nonsense or drivel.

This is actually a shortened version of the word flimflam which is also of Scandinavian origin. Why is it words like flounce and flimflam are of Scandinavian origin?

Florrie watched the flimflam man, Flip, flounce around Flavio’s Café trying to pull his hot flauta flam by pretending to have burned himself but not realizing that he was about to slip on the flan the flautist Florrine had accidently knocked on the floor in frustration when Fletcher flouted her for flaunting her knowledge of Friedrich von Flotow’s opera, Martha.

Disclaimer: The author, his heirs, his editors (of which he apparently has many), his colleagues, his cat, nor the finches at his feeder take any responsibility for slip of the tongues, mispronounced words, misunderstandings, or subsequent flouts or flaunts that might come from using The Toad’s Words.

Copyright © by Michael L. VanBlaricum, 2011.

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