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| | The Mavens' Word of the Day (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-14) |
 | | Given Swift's relegation of bamboozle to language's dustbin, it's no surprise that most scholars conjecture bamboozle arose among the criminals of the underworld, though no written evidence exists to support this. |
 | | One rather unlikely theory has it that bamboozle comes from bombazine, a kind of fabric that, dyed fl, used to be worn for mourning. |
 | | One hundred fifty years later, bamboozle, banter, bully, and the rest once denigrated by Swift have so permeated the language as to have shed their slang status, and are now part of Standard English. |
| www.randomhouse.com /wotd/index.pperl?date=20010921 (412 words) |
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