"trump up" = inflate

[sagehen]

on 4/13/08 11:51 AM, Laurence Horn at laurence.horn at YALE.EDU wrote:

> At 8:06 AM -0700 4/13/08, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>> A Fox News correspondent reports that even as the "Obama camp" tries
>> to minimize his recent comment about bitterness in Pennsylvania, the
>> "Clinton camp is trying to trump up the statement."
>>
>> See, "trump" must be from "trumpet," right?  So, like, "trump up"
>> must mean to inflate something, like when you blow into a trumpet?
>> Or maybe to make a noise about something, like when you blow into a
>> trumpet.
>>
> with influence from "ramp up"?
>
> LH
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
~~~~~~~~~~~
It never occurred to me to examine its roots before, but "trumped up" has
been in my idiolect forever, not as an intensifier like "blown up" but as a
wholly invented sthg-or-other: often an excuse.  It carries a  distinct air
of fakeness.   Living, as we do, more or less beyond the reach of Fox, I
didn't hear the example given above.
AM

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org