Birminghamize

English

Alternative forms

• Birminghamise (non-Oxford British spelling)

Etymology

Attested since 1856, from Birmingham +‎ -ize. From the English city being known for cheap knock-off goods. Coined by Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈbɜː.mɪŋ.əmaɪz/

  (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈbɝ.mɪŋ.əmaɪz/

Verb

Birminghamize (third-person singular simple present Birminghamizes, present participle Birminghamizing, simple past and past participle Birminghamized)

1. (transitive) To make ersatz [1856]
   • 1856, Ralph Waldo Emerson, English Traits, ch. Ⅴ – "Ability".

     “The manners and customs of society are artificial;—made-up men with made-up manners;—and thus the whole is Birminghamized, and we have a nation whose existence is a work of art;—a cold, barren, almost arctic isle being made the most fruitful, luxurious and imperial land in the whole earth.”

   • 1986, Michael W. Doyle, Empires, Cornell University Press, →ISBN, page 292:

     “Full Home Rule, first through a powerful system of local government (Chamberlain’s proposal to "Birminghamize" Ireland), later through a wider, national self-government, inexorably became the only Liberal solution.”

See also

• brummagem