sargebear opened this issue on Sep 23, 2002 ยท 25 posts
yggdrasil posted Mon, 23 September 2002 at 11:39 AM
LB Since I'm in the UK (and thus don't have it yet) I can't comment on P5. Being a slow day at work I decided to take up the challenge of identifying the "nattering nabobs" reference. I had seen the term used before on various forums, but never thought about it's origin. Well ... "In a speech in San Diego in 1970, then Vice President Spiro Agnew used the phrase "nattering nabobs of negativism" to describe supposed intellectuals who attacked American policy. "Natter" is defined as "to nag, to find fault peevishly," and a "nabob" is "a native provincial deputy or governor of the old Mogul empire in India; a native district ruler in India" or "European who has become rich in India" or "a very rich man" (Websters New Universal Unabridged Dictionary, Deluxe Second Edition). Agnew's speech writers undoubtedly put the terms together because of their alliterative value, but the phrase does paint an interesting although unpleasant word picture of a self-important person nagging and criticizing everyone else." And where did I find this info? Well Google led me a merry dance through several web sites till I ended up with a thought for the day page on the Alcoholics Anonymous in San Antonio Texas web site. Go figure. -- Mark
Mark