# Will "trump" become a common noun? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 5, 2016, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-trump-become-a-common-noun/761791 "2016-08-05T00:46:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2016, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-trump-become-a-common-noun/761791/21 "2016-08-07T23:46:36Z")
Thank you for your advice. I’ve always admired your deep reasoning, incisive analysis, and cheerful wit here at the Straight Dope. Thanks also for bumping the thread. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2016, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-trump-become-a-common-noun/761791/22 "2016-08-08T04:57:46Z")
Never heard of the term quisling before this thread…maybe that’s not the example you should be hanging your hat on. ---
**Author:** ![Askthepizzaguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askthepizzaguy/32/9405_2.png) [@Askthepizzaguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askthepizzaguy)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2016, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-trump-become-a-common-noun/761791/23 "2016-08-08T05:44:12Z")
Quisling is a favorite term used especially in right wing media, like on the Michael Savage talk radio program the Savage Nation. It’s frequently used by conservatives to paint liberals as traitors. It’s also used frequently here in Norway for obvious reasons, since the natives who resisted the Nazis object quite strenuously to the traitor Quisling. There’s a memorial quite close to my house marking where the Nazis strolled through the country. The Nazi army followed the railroad tracks heading North and you could have hit them with a rock thrown from my window, since this house was built before then. I’m glad I wasn’t here for that. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2016, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-trump-become-a-common-noun/761791/24 "2016-08-08T13:40:25Z")
“Quisling” wasn’t a word prior to Vidkun Quisling. It also, to the ears of an English speaker, is an awful-sounding word. It kind of sounds like it should mean exactly what it does even if you didn’t know it was someone’s name. It was a near-perfect combination of the last name of a truly detestable piece of shit sounding like a perfect word to describe the precise type of piece of shit he was. At least to my English-understanding ears. “Trump” fails in that regard because it’s already a word that means something other than what Trump is, and it’s not a particularly noteworthy word in terms of how it sounds. ---
**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:** [August 8, 2016, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-trump-become-a-common-noun/761791/25 "2016-08-08T15:25:06Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#): > > Never heard of the term quisling before this thread…maybe that’s not the example you should be hanging your hat on. I that’s more ignorance on your part than a reflection of how common it is. While quisling was most popular during WWII for obvious reasons, it’s still regularly used, [and still occurs at maybe 50% of its frequency immediately after the war.](https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=quisling&year_start=1800&year_end=2000&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cquisling%3B%2Cc0) ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2016, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-trump-become-a-common-noun/761791/26 "2016-08-08T19:41:25Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > Thank you for your advice. I’ve always admired your deep reasoning, incisive analysis, and cheerful wit here at the Straight Dope. > > Thanks also for bumping the thread. Glad to hear it. Then you will appreciate the fact that I posted what I did because your OP read like something a five year old would say. It was one of the more stupid things I have read on the Dope, and with the way SDMB is tanking lately, that’s saying a lot. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2016, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-trump-become-a-common-noun/761791/27 "2016-08-08T20:15:25Z")
Trumpery Is already a word, and a very appropriate one. trump·er·y ˈtrəmp(ə)rē/ archaic noun 1. attractive articles of little value or use. adjective 1. showy but worthless. “trumpery jewelry” ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2016, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-trump-become-a-common-noun/761791/28 "2016-08-08T20:23:23Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > Trumpery > > Is already a word, and a very appropriate one. > > trump·er·y > ˈtrəmp(ə)rē/ > archaic > noun > 1. > attractive articles of little value or use. > adjective > 1. > showy but worthless. > “trumpery jewelry” I prefer this one, though it is a verb: > [@](#): > > TRUMP > > verb > … > 5. (intransitive) _British slang_ to expel intestinal gas through the anus [http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/trump](http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/trump) ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2016, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-trump-become-a-common-noun/761791/29 "2016-08-08T20:56:58Z")
I dunno, if Clinton used the word in one of the debates, then stopped and explained that “trumpery” means “showy but worthless”, _right in front of him_, I think Trump’s reaction, which would stretch out for weeks, would be more than worth the price of admission. ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2016, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-trump-become-a-common-noun/761791/30 "2016-08-08T21:54:06Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > I dunno, if Clinton used the word in one of the debates, then stopped and explained that “trumpery” means “showy but worthless”, _right in front of him_, I think Trump’s reaction, which would stretch out for weeks, would be more than worth the price of admission. Nah, she should just use it in passing and leave the explanation to the pundits afterwords. Never explain a joke. ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2016, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-trump-become-a-common-noun/761791/31 "2016-08-08T21:57:43Z")
opps double post ---
**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:** [August 8, 2016, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-trump-become-a-common-noun/761791/32 "2016-08-08T22:58:08Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > Glad to hear it. Then you will appreciate the fact that I posted what I did because your OP read like something a five year old would say. It was one of the more stupid things I have read on the Dope, and with the way SDMB is tanking lately, that’s saying a lot. **Clothahump** criticizing someone for saying something childish and stupid is like Jabba the Hutt calling someone fat and ugly. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2016, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-trump-become-a-common-noun/761791/33 "2016-08-09T00:18:09Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > Glad to hear it. Then you will appreciate the fact that I posted what I did because your OP read like something a five year old would say. It was one of the more stupid things I have read on the Dope, and with the way SDMB is tanking lately, that’s saying a lot. But the language was elegantly crafted! And admit it, you learned a fact about Norway and Vidkun Quisling. You should read more of my threads; I’m a very educational type of guy. Why, I know how to tell you to “Bite my wiener” in eight different languages! ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2016, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-trump-become-a-common-noun/761791/34 "2016-08-09T01:43:52Z")
> [@Buck\_Godot](#): > > Nah, she should just use it in passing and leave the explanation to the pundits afterwords. Never explain a joke. I look forward to the debates for things just like this. 😃 I’ve a funny feeling that Hillary has a rapier sharp humor that could handily carve well a competent candidate… one born with patience. Putting her on stage next to an ignorant, arrogant and easily baited tool like Trump in a battle of words and wits? The first five rows may just need Ponchos for blood spray alone…! 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-trump-become-a-common-noun/761791.md?page=1)