"Bombast" is such a funny word

[TBRS1]

I recently ran into a word that I don't use often, don't see used often, but find truly funny due to it's history. That word was "Bombast" or "Bombastic."

History:

You may have heard the name "Paracelsus" with means "better than Celsus." Celsus was a well-known 1st Century Roman author of medical books - so right out of the gate, the guy using the name is claiming to be better than a revered expert.

Here's what Paracelsus looked like:

Paracelsus was a pretty famous doctor in the mid 1500s. Also, he was constantly being run out of town by the local doctors because he would loudly, insultingly, and publicly criticise them.

Paracelsus' theory of medicine could be summed up like this:

Most people who get sick get better all by themselves. Those who don't get better die no matter what medicine you give them (in 1550, medicine was pretty bad). Physicians (at the time) were more likely to make things worse that to make things better. So the best thing is to give a patient a herbal medicine to treat the symptoms, and if you didn't have one, use a placebo.

Using this formula, his success rate was better than the other doctors, which made him famous with people, but hated by his competitors.

Paracelsus' actual name was Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim.

He was so hated that one of his names "Bombastus" became an insult meaning "an extremely loud mouthed and insulting know-it-all."

This is where the word "Bombast" comes from.

 

[AGXStarseed]

I recently ran into a word that I don't use often, don't see used often, but find truly funny due to it's history. That word was "Bombast" or "Bombastic."

History:

You may have heard the name "Paracelsus" with means "better than Celsus." Celsus was a well-known 1st Century Roman author of medical books - so right out of the gate, the guy using the name is claiming to be better than a revered expert.

Here's what Paracelsus looked like:

View attachment 140152

Paracelsus was a pretty famous doctor in the mid 1500s. Also, he was constantly being run out of town by the local doctors because he would loudly, insultingly, and publicly criticise them.

Paracelsus' theory of medicine could be summed up like this:

Most people who get sick get better all by themselves. Those who don't get better die no matter what medicine you give them (in 1550, medicine was pretty bad). Physicians (at the time) were more likely to make things worse that to make things better. So the best thing is to give a patient a herbal medicine to treat the symptoms, and if you didn't have one, use a placebo.

Using this formula, his success rate was better than the other doctors, which made him famous with people, but hated by his competitors.

Paracelsus' actual name was Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim.

He was so hated that one of his names "Bombastus" became an insult meaning "an extremely loud mouthed and insulting know-it-all."

This is where the word "Bombast" comes from.

Interesting history.
Whenever I hear the word "Bombastic", I'm reminded of the song "Mr. Bombastic" - which I always associate with the summertime.

 

[Aspychata]

Me to, l love that song. Now l know what the word means.

 

[AGXStarseed]

For us to enjoy:

 

[TBRS1]

For us to enjoy:

I didn't know that song .

Out of curiosity, do your thoughts about the song change when you know what a Bombast is?

 

[Kalinychta]

Paracelsus was also an alchemist and certainly should be more talked about. He was mentioned in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus as well (which is how I first heard of him):.

"Before this I was not unacquainted with the more obvious laws of electricity. On this occasion a man of great research in natural philosophy was with us, and excited by this catastrophe, he entered on the explanation of a theory which he had formed on the subject of electricity and galvanism, which was at once new and astonishing to me. All that he said threw greatly into the shade Cornelius Agrippa, Albertus Magnus, and Paracelsus, the lords of my imagination; but by some fatality the overthrow of these men disinclined me to pursue my accustomed studies."

 

[TBRS1]

Paracelsus was also an alchemist and certainly should be more talked about. He was mentioned in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus as well (which is how I first heard of him):.

"Before this I was not unacquainted with the more obvious laws of electricity. On this occasion a man of great research in natural philosophy was with us, and excited by this catastrophe, he entered on the explanation of a theory which he had formed on the subject of electricity and galvanism, which was at once new and astonishing to me. All that he said threw greatly into the shade Cornelius Agrippa, Albertus Magnus, and Paracelsus, the lords of my imagination; but by some fatality the overthrow of these men disinclined me to pursue my accustomed studies."

I'm not sure about Agrippa and Albertus Magnus, but Paracelsus died suddenly. The rumor is he was murdered by competitor doctors. Another rumor is that he O.D.ed on his favorite herbal remedy - opium. The third option is that he just plain died.