Most of you as loyal Tim Blair and Instapundit readers were probably present at the birth or at least the baptism of the verb Blair coined back in 2004, and PJM celebrated as Word of the Year So Far …
But not so fast, there's even more than Volokh found:
It is indeed a long-attested word, rather than a newly coined word or a nonce word.
I give you Ukranian Literature 101:
For ill-fate but bore you to mock and beclown you;
You were watered by tears-why did they not drown you ?
The Shuffling Speech of Slavery: Black English by J. Mitchell Morse
To the extent that the demand for Black English comes from people with this attitude it is not a serious demand, and to answer their arguments would be to play their game and beclown oneself.
The parents of Baldo - perhaps age under 1 - in costume of course.
We will beclown him and show him off to the neighbors.
Or a moonbat fond of beclowning himself - TBogg for short:
Neologism watch
The wingnuts have a new expression: beclowned. See here and here.
Watch them work this to death over the next few days like a child who realizes he can get a reaction by repeating "poopy" over and over again. I guess this is the new "stuck on stupid" or "Democracy, Whiskey, Sexy!", which didn't quite pan out the way they thought it would.
Neologism, Tbogg? Hardly, you clown.
"Faithful husband, soccer dad, basset owner, and former cowboy"
Why do people beclown themselves and their blogs by displaying such proclamations?
"Faithful husband"? As opposed to rogue infidel?
"Soccer dad"? As opposed to manly dude?
"Basset owner"? What is a basset? Hound? Wow. As opposed to a pit bull?
"Former cowboy"? Now a sissy? ??
Posted by: Phoenix | Wednesday, February 21, 2007 at 11:54 PM
Heh-indeedy, Phoenix. And what's with the "a somewhat popular blogger" at the top? Why, that doesn't sound like a ringing endorsement at all! And then "fellow traitors" on the left... the Left openly admits it hates America!
Curiouser and curiouser!
Posted by: scarshapedstar | Thursday, February 22, 2007 at 01:13 AM
Heh... You win, Scar. ----> "Fellow traitors"
"Um, if Dan is such a mouth breathing wingnut why the hell are you in his comments 24/7/365?"
So, in a way, he's the best we've got! Oh, and unlike Bill Quick, Dan doesn't cuss like a sailor when we call him on his bullshit. It's kind of cute, like seeing myself back when I went to Sunday school and felt dirty for saying "darn" and "heck".
Posted by: scarshapedstar | Tuesday, February 20, 2007 at 11:26 PM
Ha Ha Ha. At least you guys can claim that you all got the 'regulars' at Dan's to talk nasty and dirty and to cuss up a storm of invective. I cried at the Sunday school ref..... TOO funny. :)
(And yeah, it does have a sort of dirty allure to call someone a dickhead.)
Posted by: Phoenix | Thursday, February 22, 2007 at 01:47 AM
I've got an earlier citation for you. From the Oxford English Dictionary,
1609 ROWLANDS Crew Gossips 24 O wretch, O Lob, who would be thus *beclown'd?
Posted by: Martin Adamson | Thursday, February 22, 2007 at 06:48 AM
It goes back even further. Matthew 3:65: Jesus said, "Blessed are the beclowned, for they will be the court jesters in the Kingdom of Heaven"
Posted by: Don Surber | Thursday, February 22, 2007 at 10:58 AM
Don - Nice try. Matthew 3:65 doesnt exist. I'm sure it was an attempt at satire but falsifying bible verses isn't exactly humorous.
Now, this is kind of hypocritical of the left to claim that the right has "found a new word" that they will "use over and over". That's real nice and good...attempting to make someone look stupid when your guilty of the same thing yourself.
Remember back during the 2004 elections? Back when we heard Hubris and Gravitas (sp?) over and over again? It was like EVERY news publication was throwing out those two words every time they were describing candidates. "Kerry has alot of Gravitas! Edwards is full of Gravitas!". Also, in the end does it really matter? It's a freakin word!
Posted by: Kite | Thursday, February 22, 2007 at 11:40 AM
Actually, falsifying Bible passages is entirely hilarious.
But back on topic, "the left," didn't find new words in 2004. If other publications tended to use the words you describe, that's on the publications. Of course it would be nice to see examples of what the hell you are talking about but, here we are .... "The left" tends to use multiple words in describing its positions - it's called utilizing the English language in order to attempt to persuade. Unfortunately, because of the poisoning of public discourse by the radical right, which is utterly terrified of actually discussing the merits of postion X, Y, and Z, idoitic one word quips are essentially all that make the news.
This benefits the ideological right because it doesn't actually have to spend time expaining what it actually stands for. If it had to do this the electorate would be even more turned-off by the GOP than it already is. Instead the loony right depends on buzz phrases that don't mean anything in an attempt to avoid honest discussion. Unfortunately this tactic has been successful, to the obvious detriment of the United States at home and abroad, which reasonable people can deduce that the GOP isn't actually interested in the welfare of the United States, but rather keeping an iron-grip on unearned power, whatever the cost.
Of course it is too soon to tell if the politics of hate and failure is still as in vogue as it has been recently. What we DO know for sure is that the GOP can't run on its record, so it is likely that it will resort to the status quo.
Posted by: Legalize | Thursday, February 22, 2007 at 12:01 PM
and unlike Bill Quick...Hmph. Looks like I got scardisfigurednobody's goat. Pretty small catch, if you ask me. Easy, though.
Posted by: Bill Quick | Thursday, February 22, 2007 at 12:10 PM
Beclowned is a perfectly cromulent word, one which embiggens the blogospheric discourse.
Enough with this kerfuffle, I say, enough.
Posted by: BumperStickerist | Thursday, February 22, 2007 at 12:44 PM
Beclowned is a perfectly cromulent word. However, me thinks its usage is some means of avoision of the larger issues at hand.
Posted by: Legalize | Thursday, February 22, 2007 at 01:02 PM
So "beclowned" is more of a "rediscovered" word. All the better.
"I'm sure it was an attempt at satire but falsifying bible verses isn't exactly humorous."
What planet are YOU from? Fake Bible verses are a laff riot. Always were. Mel Brooks with his Ten (crash), uh, Five Commandments. Life of Brian. The Boomer Bible. The Bible according to Mark Twain. The list goes on and on.
The Bible has been one of the richest sources for satire in history, mainly because of its ubiquitousness. No one satirizes something unknown, because you need your audience to have a frame of reference. (That's why The Simpsons features Reverend Loveloy and not an Ayatollah, even though the latter might be far more in need of debunking.)
Posted by: Mister Snitch! | Thursday, February 22, 2007 at 01:20 PM
Legalize,
Your periphrastic persiflage is going to become the beclownment of you.
Cut it by half for crying out loud.
Posted by: Phoenix | Thursday, February 22, 2007 at 02:33 PM
Whenever I read the comments at lefty blogs, I feel the urgent need to bathe with Lava soap, brush my teeth with powdered Gunite, and gargle with nuclear Scope to get the grunge off and the bad taste out of my mouth. Only one person on that thread bothered to look up "beclowned" to find out that it is a legit word over three-hundred years old, AND THAT WAS A RIGHTY SLUMMING!
The intellectual vacuity of the left is really what that sucking sound was that H. Ross talked about: Space couldn't offer so perfect a vacuum as the cranial interior of a leftards noggin.
Posted by: Hucbald | Thursday, February 22, 2007 at 05:42 PM
Who said I'm not manly?
I'm a lumberjack!
You can't get more manly than that.
http://pillageidiot.blogspot.com/2006/01/monty-python-goes-to-croatia.html
Posted by: soccer dad | Thursday, February 22, 2007 at 08:45 PM