# What a Maroon! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 9, 2015, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-a-maroon/714613 "2015-03-09T17:14:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![stillownedbysetters](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/41988e/32.png) [@stillownedbysetters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stillownedbysetters)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2015, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-a-maroon/714613/1 "2015-03-09T17:14:54Z")
I was having a high brow literary discussion (not!) at dinner last night with a friend. We were discussing Bugs Bunny’s favorite perjorative - “What a maroon!” We realized neither of us had a clue if that was a real expression, an expression made up for the cartoons, or perhaps even a bastardization of ‘moron’. Anybody know? ---
**Author:** ![meow\_meow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@meow\_meow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/meow_meow)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2015, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-a-maroon/714613/2 "2015-03-09T17:17:15Z")
What a tar ar ar goon de ay. I always thought it was Bugs’ way of saying Moron. ---
**Author:** ![Crotalus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crotalus/32/41_2.png) [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2015, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-a-maroon/714613/3 "2015-03-09T17:17:24Z")
I have always assumed that it was “a bastardization of ‘moron’”. ---
**Author:** ![Lorene89095](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a8b319/32.png) [@Lorene89095](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lorene89095)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2015, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-a-maroon/714613/4 "2015-03-09T17:33:14Z")
I knew a person who insisted “fragile” was pronounced (if I can do it) “fra-ghi-lee” ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2015, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-a-maroon/714613/5 "2015-03-09T18:25:39Z")
According to the online Merriam-Webster dictionary, "[maroon" (noun](http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/maroon)) is: (1) a fugitive black slave of the West Indies and Guiana in the 17th and 18th centuries; also : a descendant of such a slave (2) a person who is marooned (3) a dark red (1) would seem to indicate a racist undertone to the term, but perhaps that is just hearing it through the filter of 21st century P.C.-ness. Not that Warner Bros didn’t have plenty of overtly racist cartoons, but didn’t Bugs Bunny frequently use the term at the very white Elmer Fudd? ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2015, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-a-maroon/714613/6 "2015-03-09T18:29:27Z")
> [@Lorene89095](#): > > I knew a person who insisted “fragile” was pronounced (if I can do it) “fra-ghi-lee” It must be Italian! ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2015, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-a-maroon/714613/7 "2015-03-09T18:35:15Z")
I doubt the first definition has anything to do with it. The OED primarily cites UK sources for the usage; the only US quote was from 1889, which means it is unlikely anyone at Warner Brothers had heard it. And, as you point out, Elmer Fudd was white. It’s clearly intended to be a mispronunciation of “moron.” ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2015, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-a-maroon/714613/8 "2015-03-09T18:36:22Z")
Said about a bull during fight of same: “What a gulla-bull. What a nin-cow-poop. What an im-bess-ill. What an ultra-maroon.” ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2015, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-a-maroon/714613/9 "2015-03-09T18:41:04Z")
Why do you think it was “Maroon Pictures” in _Roger Rabbit_? (In the book, it was the Maroon Brothers, identical (toon?) twins - modeled, of course, on no one in the actual film industry. ---
**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:** [March 9, 2015, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-a-maroon/714613/10 "2015-03-09T18:44:34Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > I doubt the first definition has anything to do with it… > > It’s clearly intended to be a mispronunciation of “moron.” Definitely a mispronunciation of ‘moron’. I recall mispronunciations were often used in comedies of the period; for example, The Bowery Boys. > [@meow\_meow](#): > > What a tar ar ar goon de ay. I always thought it was Bugs’ way of saying Moron. That’s [‘ra-ra’, not ‘ar-ar’](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ta-ra-ra_Boom-de-ay). 😉 ---
**Author:** ![yawuntz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a5b964/32.png) [@yawuntz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yawuntz)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2015, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-a-maroon/714613/11 "2015-03-09T19:17:48Z")
> [@Lorene89095](#): > > I knew a person who insisted “fragile” was pronounced (if I can do it) “fra-ghi-lee” Sounds like the same guy that wanted to surf at Banzai Pee-pay-lee-nay. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2015, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-a-maroon/714613/12 "2015-03-09T19:26:35Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > “What a gulla-bull.[”] Making this a dialectic parody of a word that doesn’t exist in the first place. Those guys were such maroons. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2015, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-a-maroon/714613/13 "2015-03-09T19:50:29Z")
> [@Lorene89095](#): > > I knew a person who insisted “fragile” was pronounced (if I can do it) “fra-ghi-lee” > [@Shagnasty](#): > > It must be Italian! No, it’s Swahili; means “unbreakable”. ---
**Author:** ![boffking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/858c86/32.png) [@boffking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boffking)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2015, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-a-maroon/714613/14 "2015-03-09T20:17:14Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > It must be Italian! Just be careful with the deen-a-mite candles. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2015, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-a-maroon/714613/15 "2015-03-09T20:23:33Z")
This thread is the epi-tome of mispronunciations! ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2015, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-a-maroon/714613/16 "2015-03-09T20:27:19Z")
> [@Ayatollah Yawuntz](#): > > Sounds like the same guy that wanted to surf at Banzai Pee-pay-lee-nay. That guy sounds like a real imbay-cheelay! ---
**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:** [March 9, 2015, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-a-maroon/714613/17 "2015-03-09T20:54:43Z")
> [@cjepson](#): > > That guy sounds like a real imbay-cheelay! How would you classify Mr. Teatime then? (or the Doper I call **Tay-ah-cah-kay**?) ---
**Author:** ![yawuntz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a5b964/32.png) [@yawuntz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yawuntz)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2015, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-a-maroon/714613/18 "2015-03-09T23:20:27Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > This thread is the epi-tome of mispronunciations! Yes, it’s going to be an epic tome! ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2015, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-a-maroon/714613/19 "2015-03-09T23:55:40Z")
You guys are all full of hyper-bowl. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2015, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-a-maroon/714613/20 "2015-03-10T02:21:04Z")
Despite the banned cartoons I can’t make my brain accept that Bugs was a racist so -------- I’m going with the “badly pronounced” explanation. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-a-maroon/714613.md?page=2)