[Ads-l] New to me: 'kayfabe'

Nancy Friedman wordworking at GMAIL.COM
Tue Jan 5 23:40:55 UTC 2021


"Kayfabe" was much discussed in the run-up to the 2016 election. I wrote
about it in September 2016.
https://nancyfriedman.typepad.com/away_with_words/2016/09/word-of-the-week-kayfabe.html

On Tue, Jan 5, 2021, 3:38 PM Geoffrey Nathan <geoffnathan at wayne.edu> wrote:

> Just learned a new word. From an article on Slate about how tomorrow's
> Senate
> process is likely to unfold I found the following:
>
> 'More than a dozen Republican senators have said
> they will sign on to various objections,
> promising to make this year's electoral count a spectacle of kayfabe
> sedition.'
>
> https://bit.ly/2Xe1HOq
>
> According to Wikipedia, 'kayfabe' means the kind of scripted 'fight' seen
> in professional
> wrestling, where the outcomes are predestined and the 'fighters' remain in
> character, even outside of the ring while entertaining fans.
>
> Geoffrey S. Nathan
> WSU Information Privacy Officer (Retired)
> Emeritus Professor, Linguistics Program
> https://clasprofiles.wayne.edu/profile/an6993
> geoffnathan at wayne.edu
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

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



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