# Gimme a better cliche for a self-appointing chest-thumper **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 19, 2015, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gimme-a-better-cliche-for-a-self-appointing-chest-thumper/720362 "2015-05-19T13:49:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![johnspartan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a183cd/32.png) [@johnspartan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnspartan)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2015, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gimme-a-better-cliche-for-a-self-appointing-chest-thumper/720362/1 "2015-05-19T13:49:23Z")
I am involved with some various grassroots local political causes. Invariably in these circles, you occasionally come across this guy… Decree man. You can almost picture him standing with chest puffed out and a hand in his lapel, chin up. “So spake Joe, so shall it be” vibe. Doling out their little pearls of wisdom to the room of 6 people about things way above their pay grade. Candidate for president’s position on this issue is X and not Y. They rush to social media to bluster into the ether, “This campaign died today.” Pronouncement guy. In the recent past I’ve referred to those people as _ **I am the Lorax, and I speak for the trees!"** _… but there have to be better ones? ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2015, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gimme-a-better-cliche-for-a-self-appointing-chest-thumper/720362/2 "2015-05-19T13:51:22Z")
The Limbaugh. ---
**Author:** ![usedtobe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@usedtobe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usedtobe)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2015, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gimme-a-better-cliche-for-a-self-appointing-chest-thumper/720362/3 "2015-05-20T01:54:15Z")
“Thus Spoke Zarathustra” ---
**Author:** ![Teach-me-not](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a4c791/32.png) [@Teach-me-not](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teach-me-not)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2015, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gimme-a-better-cliche-for-a-self-appointing-chest-thumper/720362/4 "2015-05-20T04:10:43Z")
In India, we might call him “tea shop politician” ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2015, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gimme-a-better-cliche-for-a-self-appointing-chest-thumper/720362/5 "2015-05-20T05:13:06Z")
[Spode](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roderick_Spode) ---
**Author:** ![Lacunae\_Matata](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lacunae\_Matata](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lacunae_Matata)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2015, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gimme-a-better-cliche-for-a-self-appointing-chest-thumper/720362/6 "2015-05-20T07:44:42Z")
Sounds just like my ex husband, so I vote that we call that guy Steve. Okay, Spode is better. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2015, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gimme-a-better-cliche-for-a-self-appointing-chest-thumper/720362/7 "2015-05-20T17:40:41Z")
Sobchak has a nice ring to it, after [Walter Sobchak](http://cdn.hark.com/images/001/249/452/1249452/original.jpg) from _The Big Lebowski_. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2015, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gimme-a-better-cliche-for-a-self-appointing-chest-thumper/720362/8 "2015-05-20T18:16:06Z")
The Rockwell; after Norman Rockwell, who gave us visual glurge like[this](http://www.nrm.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Freedom_of_Speech_5_6_meta.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2015, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gimme-a-better-cliche-for-a-self-appointing-chest-thumper/720362/9 "2015-05-20T18:32:36Z")
The Wonderfulness That Is Me ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2015, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gimme-a-better-cliche-for-a-self-appointing-chest-thumper/720362/10 "2015-05-20T18:37:47Z")
Pretentious popinjay? ---
**Author:** ![Nancarrow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c37758/32.png) [@Nancarrow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nancarrow)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2015, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gimme-a-better-cliche-for-a-self-appointing-chest-thumper/720362/11 "2015-05-20T21:50:42Z")
I find ‘blowhard’ works nicely. It encapsulates both their effort and their effect. ---
**Author:** ![MoodIndigo1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e8c25b/32.png) [@MoodIndigo1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MoodIndigo1)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2015, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gimme-a-better-cliche-for-a-self-appointing-chest-thumper/720362/12 "2015-05-20T22:16:35Z")
I thought the cliché was “self-appointed chest-thumper”. A lot of good suggestions on this thread. If you are going for straightforward, adjective-light prose, Nancarrow’s suggestion of ''blowhard" works well. If you are going for grandiloquence or flowery prose, then ‘‘pretentious popinjay’’ would be my pick. ETA, the latter credited to Johnny L.A.