gonzo
English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Coined in 1971 by Boston Globe editor Bill Cardoso. Of uncertain origin; OED proposes Italian gonzo (“dolt”) and/or Spanish ganso (“dolt, goose”).[1] The etymology supplied by Cardoso himself (French gonzeaux) is spurious.[2]
Pronunciation[edit]
- enPR: gŏnʹzō
- (US) IPA(key): /ˈɡɑnzoʊ/
- (UK) IPA(key): /ˈɡɒnzəʊ/
Audio (Southern England) (file) - Rhymes: -ɒnzəʊ
Adjective[edit]
gonzo (comparative more gonzo, superlative most gonzo)
- (journalism) Using an unconventional, exaggerated and highly subjective style, often when the reporter takes part in the events of the story.
- 1972, Richard Pollack, chapter VI, in Stop the Presses, I Want to Get Off!:
- I ask Hunter to explain... Just what is Gonzo Journalism?.. “Gonzo all started with Bill Cardosa [sic],..after I wrote the Kentucky Derby piece for Scanlan's..the first time I realized you could write different. And..I got this note from Cardosa saying, ‘That was pure Gonzo journalism!’.. Some Boston word for weird, bizarre.”
- Unconventional, bizarre, crazy. [from 1974][3]
- 2007, Mark Dery, The Pyrotechnic Insanitarium: American Culture on the Brink[1], page 121:
- Nicholson’s Torrance is an evil clown […] Appropriately, pop culture has embraced him as a gonzo antihero: ads for T-shirts emblazoned with the “Here’s Johnny” Nicholson
- 2021, Peter Oborne, The Assault on Truth, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, page 62:
- Johnson abandoned all of these [values] for a narcissism that mocked the style of straightforward, sober, serious, self effacing politics of the post-war era. He turned his back on the public domain and the ideas of duty, honour and obligation that defined it. For him, politics was a personal story which saw the evolution of Britain's first gonzo political journalist into our first gonzo prime minister.
Derived terms[edit]
Noun[edit]
gonzo (plural gonzos)
- Gonzo journalism or a journalist who produces such journalism.
- 2000, Hunter S. Thompson, Douglas Brinkley, Fear and Loathing in America: The Brutal Odyssey of an Outlaw Journalist, 1968-1976:
- “Unstable,” indeed! Those swine. Next year we should demand a Gonzo category—or maybe RS should give it. Of course. “The First Annual Rolling Stone Award for the Year's Finest Example of Pure Gonzo Journalism.”
- A wild or crazy person.
References[edit]
- ^ “gonzo, adj.”, in OED Online
, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, April 2013.
- ^ What is Gonzo? The Etymology of an Urban Legend, Martin Hirst, 2004.
- ^ John A. Simpson and Edmund S. C. Weiner, editors (1989), “gonzo”, in The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, →ISBN.
Further reading[edit]
Galician[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Old French gons, from Latin gomphus, from Ancient Greek γόμφος (gómphos), from Proto-Hellenic *gómpʰos, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵómbʰos. Doublet of golfón.
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
gonzo m (plural gonzos)
Derived terms[edit]
References[edit]
- “gonço” in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval, SLI - ILGA 2006–2022.
- “gonzo” in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega, SLI - ILGA 2006–2013.
- “gonzo” in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega. Santiago: ILG.
- “gonzo” in Álvarez, Rosario (coord.): Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués, Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega.
Italian[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Unknown. Some suggest by aphesis from Latin verēcundus (“bashful, shamefaced”, see verecondo and vergogna).
Pronunciation[edit]
Adjective[edit]
gonzo (feminine gonza, masculine plural gonzi, feminine plural gonze)
Noun[edit]
gonzo m (plural gonzi, feminine gonza)
Descendants[edit]
Portuguese[edit]
Pronunciation[edit]
- Hyphenation: gon‧zo
Etymology 1[edit]
From Old French gons, from Latin gomphus, from Ancient Greek γόμφος (gómphos), from Proto-Hellenic *gómpʰos, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵómbʰos.
Noun[edit]
gonzo m (plural gonzos)
- hinge (device for the pivoting of a door)
- 1995, José Saramago, Ensaio sobre a cegueira, Caminho:
- Esperavam o ruído do portão ao ser aberto, o guincho agudo dos gonzos por untar, […]
- They waited for the sound of the gate being opened, the shrill squeal of the hinges in need of oil, […]
Etymology 2[edit]
Adjective[edit]
gonzo (feminine gonza, masculine plural gonzos, feminine plural gonzas)
- English terms with unknown etymologies
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- Rhymes:English/ɒnzəʊ
- Rhymes:English/ɒnzəʊ/2 syllables
- English lemmas
- English adjectives
- en:Mass media
- English terms with quotations
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- en:People
- Galician terms borrowed from Old French
- Galician terms derived from Old French
- Galician terms derived from Latin
- Galician terms derived from Ancient Greek
- Galician terms derived from Proto-Hellenic
- Galician terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- Galician doublets
- Galician terms with IPA pronunciation
- Galician lemmas
- Galician nouns
- Galician countable nouns
- Galician masculine nouns
- Italian terms with unknown etymologies
- Italian terms inherited from Latin
- Italian terms derived from Latin
- Italian 2-syllable words
- Italian terms with IPA pronunciation
- Rhymes:Italian/ondzo
- Rhymes:Italian/ondzo/2 syllables
- Italian lemmas
- Italian adjectives
- Italian nouns
- Italian countable nouns
- Italian masculine nouns
- it:People
- Portuguese 2-syllable words
- Portuguese terms with IPA pronunciation
- Portuguese terms borrowed from Old French
- Portuguese terms derived from Old French
- Portuguese terms derived from Latin
- Portuguese terms derived from Ancient Greek
- Portuguese terms derived from Proto-Hellenic
- Portuguese terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- Portuguese lemmas
- Portuguese nouns
- Portuguese countable nouns
- Portuguese masculine nouns
- Portuguese terms with quotations
- Portuguese terms borrowed from Italian
- Portuguese terms derived from Italian
- Portuguese adjectives
- pt:Mass media