"trump up" = inflate

[sagehen]

on 4/13/08 4:12 PM, sagehen at sagehen at WESTELCOM.COM wrote:

> 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
>

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