Wednesday, January 8, 2020

Wednesday's Random Slang-o-rama: Blow one's own horn


With the newest of my Silver Rush historical mysteries, MORTAL MUSIC, officially releasing on January 27, I thought I'd spend this month exploring some not-so-random musical idioms and bits of slang. After all, as an author, I should blow my own horn or alternatively (or more specifically) blow my trumpet.
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According to The American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer, these phrases, which mean to "brag about oneself," have been out and about since the late 1500s.

I was having a hard time finding out much else about this phrase until I stumbled on an archived Writer's Block post by S. D. Liddiard (from the year 2000!) titled "Instruments of Expression: Bells, Drums, and a Horn," which notes:
To blow your own horn is to be a braggart or "blowhard." This expression, arising in the American West about the middle of the 19th century, derives from an earlier expression, blow your own trumpet, dating back to at least 1576 and probably originating in medieval times, when heralds blew trumpets to announce the arrival of the king. Of course, any merchant or other commoner who wanted to announce his arrival had to blow his own horn.
And if that strikes a chord with you, feel free to check out this Slang-o-rama post from July 2019 that delves into that particular expression.

Now here is a man who knows how to blow his own horn! Might he be an author with an upcoming book release??
The actual title of this 1818 cartoon by G. Cruikshank is "A German mountebank blowing his own trumpet at a Dutch concert of 500 piano fortes!!" (From the Library of Congress)

2 comments:

Liz V. said...

Well deserved accolades, Ann.

Best wishes for your newest release!

Ann Parker said...

Thank you, Liz! I'll be blowing my horn here, there, elsewhere over the next few weeks... but at least I'll try to be entertaining while I do so ... :-)