In case you were wondering why I asked

[cos]

On Sunday Molly was telling Val and I about this "friend" she had back in California, who invited her to come hang out and maybe go out. Oh, and by the way, since you're coming over, said this friend, why not bring some of that software you were going to try installing on my computer? Sure, said Molly, I can install it while we're hanging out.

She went over, with the software, and started... and a whole bunch of friend's Hollywood-ish friends came over, and friend said you don't mind finishing that software while we all go out, do you?

After our appropriate gasps of shock, Molly struggled to complete the sentence: "I can't believe she had the ... the ... what's the word for it? the nerve?" And right then, it came to me: I can't believe she had the blagojevich to suggest that!

We all agree this word should spread, so I indulged my habit of submitting to urbandictionary. It was while I was writing that entry, and trying to think of some good examples, that I made my recent post asking for stories. So now you know what made me think of it.

P.S. Urbandictionary has a bunch of other definitions of blagojevich, but mine's clearly the best one :) So please vote it up!

Comments

[porfinn.livejournal.com]

My only grump is: I don't like giving someone who doesn't deserve to be remembered at all, even one more moment past the initial fifteen minutes of infamy. It isn't exactly a complimentary word, but some people might construe it that way. People can be very odd about what they take pride in. "Chutzpah" is usually considered a good thing. It is a clever piece of slang, but I don't want this putz's name to ever be considered even a particle of a compliment.

[cos]

I think he's gonna be well-remembered by anyone who was around for the past couple months of his circus, nothing we can do about that. Eventually, he may fade into the past, and people won't know where the word came from, as has happened with a number of words we all use (and I've even forgotten which ones of the obscure ones have origin in people's names - there are a small handful we tend to remember came from someone's name, and a lot more we just don't think of). He'll be gone by then, and won't care, of course. Being remembered for his lifetime is something he's already "achieved" with the amount of blagojevich he's shown since his arrest.

[eirias.livejournal.com]

"Spoonerism" is the one that comes to mind. And "bowdlerize," maybe?

[cos]

Those are some of the few most obvious and well-known ones. Especially spoonerism. I wouldn't even be surprised if a majority of people who know that word at least suspect that it comes from someone's name. Which is, probably, why you thought of it here - precisely because it's one of those name-based-words that is most widely known to be a name-based-word.

[kajmal.livejournal.com]

It's frequently a good thing to remember a bad example.