Tuesday, August 14, 2012

pollyanna



pollyanna [ˌpɒliˈænə] n.

1.) A person regarded as being foolishly or blindly optimistic (American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language).

Etymology: After the heroine of the novel Pollyanna, by the American writer Eleanor Hodgman Porter (1868-1920).

"Job's crops are destroyed, his barns burned, his children taken sick, and he himself breaks out all over with boils. In this condition he is visited by a group of three friends—professional moralists and Pollyannas—and between them and him the dramatic debate ensues" (The Man and the Book Nobody Knows, Bruce Barton, 1959).

(Job and His Daughters, William Blake, 1800)

6 comments:

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Job's life turned out all right though.

Meri said...

haha I'm pretty sure no one will ever call me this, but I don't think I'd want them to anyway.

Debra She Who Seeks said...

I actually read "Pollyanna" when I was a kid. She WAS pretty sickly sweet.

I answered your question in my blog comments, a couple of comments later.

DEZMOND said...

I had this once in a book I was translating and I had to seek advice from Wikipedia :) But I do remember the film about Pollyanna!

D4 said...

Well, sweet. Sounds like me.. sometimes.

A Beer for the Shower said...

Suddenly I have a new word to describe our next installment of Slim Dyson. Wonderful.

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