Barneyesque

English

Barney at a show in Qatar

Etymology

From Barney +‎ -esque.

Adjective

Barneyesque (comparative more Barneyesque, superlative most Barneyesque)

1. Resembling or characteristic of Barney from the American children’s television series Barney & Friends, a purple anthropomorphic Tyrannosaurus rex who conveys educational messages through songs and small dance routines with a friendly, huggable and optimistic attitude.
   • 1998 April 16, Young Chang, “If you build it… they will come”, in The Johns Hopkins News-Letter, volume CII, number 24, Baltimore, Md.: The Johns Hopkins University, →OCLC, page B1:

     It’s strange what a few red and white candy-cane fashioned posts can do for a campus. And how easily a carousel lined with big plastic Barneyesque dinosaurs can enliven a normally adult space.

   • 1999, John C. Fredriksen, Dino-Guide: The Saurian Source Book (Reference Books for School and Public Libraries; 1), Salem, Mass.: Dollar Scholar Press, →ISBN, page 30, column 2:

     Marylen Costumes […] Offers a big selection of somewhat “Barneyesque” designs and a reasonably serious T. rex.

   • 2001, Istvan Banyai, − = + [Minus Equals Plus], New York, N.Y.: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., →ISBN, page 3:

     So for a couple of years I spent lots of time leafing through children’s picture books. And I discovered that the great majority were mediocre or worse—banal, treacly, shallow, half-assed, depressingly Barneyesque.

   • 2002 April 4–10, Stephen Notley, “That’s funny? New comedies grope for the funny bone”, in SEE Magazine, number 436, Edmonton, Alta.: Gazette Press Ltd., →ISSN, page 26, column 1:

     I ALWAYS THOUGHT THE commercials for Death to Smoochy were baffling. They primarily feature Robin Williams bibbling around in his pixieish way, slamming into walls and jumping on some guy. Why, I wondered, are they advertising it like this when they’ve got an obvious high concept to push: a disgraced children’s entertainer loses it and decides to kill his replacement, a guy in a cute Barneyesque rhino costume?

   • 2002 April 12, Owen Gleiberman, “The Week”, in Entertainment Weekly, number 648, New York, N.Y.: Entertainment Weekly Inc., →ISSN, page 52, column 2:

     DEATH TO SMOOCHY ◆ (108 mins., R) Set in the Barneyesque world of children’s television, this comedy of backstabbing overkill tells a moldy-oldie, not-nearly-as-nasty-as-it-thinks-it-is joke.

   • 2006, Michael Smerconish, “Seeing Purple”, in Muzzled: From T-Ball to Terrorism—True Stories That Should Be Fiction, Nashville, Tenn.: Nelson Current, →ISBN, page 60:

     When it comes to grading papers, the color red is out. Now in vogue: the very Barneyesque shade of purple.

   • 2006 July 21, Marrit Ingman, “Little Man”, in The Austin Chronicle, volume 25, number 51, Austin, Tex.: The Austin Chronicle Corporation, published 2006 August 18, →ISSN, page 84, column 3:

     This Wayans farce [Little Man] is about a diminutive ex-con (Marlon [Wayans], whose face has been digitally superimposed upon the body of a little person) who poses as a foundling baby in order to retrieve a stolen diamond. He lands on the doorstep of a Buppie couple (Shawn [Wayans] and [Kerry] Washington) who takes him in despite the protestations of cranky Pops ([John] Witherspoon). They take him to the park, they have a birthday party with Rob Schneider (playing a schlub in a Barney[-]esque suit), and various dads get hit in the crotch again and again.

   • 2010, Becky Garrison, Jesus Died for This? A Satirist’s Search for the Risen Christ, Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, →ISBN, pages 24 (Holy Land Happenings) and 133 (Holy Hippies):

     “See how we all get along.” / Despite this repeated Barneyesque mantra, I got the clear sense this was not much more than a well-rehearsed beauty pageant. […] Karl Barth had it right when he summarized his teachings with the simple yet profound statement “Jesus loves me, this I know.” Before anyone starts accusing this German heavyweight of becoming more Barneyesque than Barthian (hard to do when Church Dogmatics weighs in at a hefty fourteen volumes!), he’s not doing some happy-happy-joy-joy devotional dance. Rather, he’s revealing the power of the resurrection, the transformative love of the risen Christ that no earthly power can destroy.

   • 2010, Robert Schnakenberg, “Dinger”, in The Underground Baseball Encyclopedia: Baseball Stuff You Never Needed to Know and Can Certainly Live Without, Chicago, Ill.: Triumph Books, →ISBN, page 80:

     The Barneyesque beastie [Dinger] (whose purple hue derives from the [Colorado] Rockies’ team colors and not from the then-popular TV dinosaur) began to court controversy from the very beginning.

   • 2023, Anna Beresin, Julia Bishop, “Conclusion: Covid in a Play Frame”, in Anna Beresin, Julia Bishop, editors, Play in a Covid Frame: Everyday Pandemic Creativity in a Time of Isolation, Cambridge, Cambs.: Open Book Publishers, →DOI, →ISBN, page 441:

     We wondered if people would be puzzled by a book about a deadly virus and play, although those we approached understood the concept of the book intuitively. Yet, a romanticized ‘Barneyesque’ view of play remains primary, that play is a nicety, a simple extra.

Related terms

• Barney-style