gasconade

\gas-kuh-NAYD\

noun

: bravado or exaggerated boasting

A derivative of Gascony, a region in southwestern France, this word is born of a land whose citizens are known for their reputation as braggers, boasters, know-it-alls, etc—so arrogant that their geographical location is redefined as their reputation. I'm impressed with the potency of this redesignation. Regional stereotypes exist everywhere, but it's pretty awesome that GASCONADE made it out of the ranks of slang judgment and into the dictionary.

I know it means something when I say I'm from Connecticut. To most of the country it means I'm privileged and or rich, I spent my childhood Saturday afternoons swimming in the pool at the country club. To New Yorkers it means I'm country-folk. And to northern New Englanders it apparently means I'm an "asshole." According to various responses on YAHOO! Answers, people from Connecticut are: stuck up, tight, suburban, hard to warm up to, rich, snooty, boring, fake, snobby, plain, and "about nothing."

This doesn't mean much to me. I will confess to being snobby about certain things and I am most certainly hard to warm up to, but the rest is kind of funny. Sometimes I like to play up the stereotypes to mock what people think of me. I can pretend I'm rich—they don't need to know I grew up on welfare and foodstamps and ate holiday dinners donated by the town. Sure I was rich. I had a horse and an in-ground pool and a summer house in the Hamptons and a boat to get to the summer house and an account at Bloomingdales and a boyfriend who went to Yale and two parents who were married (to each other) and a Swarovski punch bowl and a pair of Chinos for every day of the week. Or rather, month. A closet full of Chinos.

This is no GASCONADE, I'm just being honest.

That above photo is totally the house where I grew up.