Highfalutin is such a fun word to say (and spell!). I associate it with old TV Western series such as Gunsmoke and Wagon Train. So, is it something Hollywood invented, or does it date back to "Wild West" days, or....?
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According to the Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang, VOL II, by J.E. Lighter, highfalutin is both a noun and an adjective—meaning either (noun) a pompous air or affectation; bombast OR (adjective) pompous or bombastic; high-flown; arrogantly pretentious. The noun dates from 1848, with the adjectival form appearing almost ten years earlier in 1839.
The Christian Science Monitor opines on the word's origin (which the Random House dictionary says is "unknown") as follows:
...Its etymology is disputed. One theory holds that it comes from the Yiddish hifelufelem: “extravagant language; nonsense.” Another contends that it derives from high-flown. British broadcaster Melvyn Bragg argues creatively, but probably wrongly, that it embodies the class divisions found on 19th-century American steamboats: “On board the bigger boats the richer travellers were called ‘highfalutin’ because of the high fluted smokestacks that carried the soot and cinders well away from the passengers.”
So, who knows how highfalutin came to be?
But at least I can rest easy knowing my 1870s–80s Silver Rush characters (as well as Gunsmoke's character Festus) are perfectly legit in using the word as a noun or adjective.
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| Festus' expression says it clearly: "Now don't you be gettin' all highfalutin on me, Doc." Wikimedia Commons |
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