gonzo

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English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Coined in 1971 by Boston Globe editor Bill Cardoso. Of uncertain origin; OED proposes Italian gonzo (dolt) and/or Spanish ganso (dolt, goose).[1] The etymology supplied by Cardoso himself (French gonzeaux) is spurious.[2]

Pronunciation[edit]

  • enPR: gŏnʹzō
  • (US) IPA(key): /ˈɡɑnzoʊ/
  • (UK) IPA(key): /ˈɡɒnzəʊ/
  • (file)
  • Rhymes: -ɒnzəʊ

Adjective[edit]

gonzo (comparative more gonzo, superlative most gonzo)

  1. (journalism) Using an unconventional, exaggerated and highly subjective style, often when the reporter takes part in the events of the story.
    • 1972, Richard Pollack, chapter VI, in Stop the Presses, I Want to Get Off!:
      I ask Hunter to explain... Just what is Gonzo Journalism?.. “Gonzo all started with Bill Cardosa [sic],..after I wrote the Kentucky Derby piece for Scanlan's..the first time I realized you could write different. And..I got this note from Cardosa saying, ‘That was pure Gonzo journalism!’.. Some Boston word for weird, bizarre.”
  2. Unconventional, bizarre, crazy. [from 1974][3]
    • 2007, Mark Dery, The Pyrotechnic Insanitarium: American Culture on the Brink[1], page 121:
      Nicholson’s Torrance is an evil clown [] Appropriately, pop culture has embraced him as a gonzo antihero: ads for T-shirts emblazoned with the “Here’s Johnny” Nicholson
    • 2021, Peter Oborne, The Assault on Truth, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, page 62:
      Johnson abandoned all of these [values] for a narcissism that mocked the style of straightforward, sober, serious, self effacing politics of the post-war era. He turned his back on the public domain and the ideas of duty, honour and obligation that defined it. For him, politics was a personal story which saw the evolution of Britain's first gonzo political journalist into our first gonzo prime minister.

Derived terms[edit]

Noun[edit]

gonzo (countable and uncountable, plural gonzos)

  1. Gonzo journalism or a journalist who produces such journalism.
    • 2000, Hunter S. Thompson, Douglas Brinkley, Fear and Loathing in America: The Brutal Odyssey of an Outlaw Journalist, 1968-1976:
      “Unstable,” indeed! Those swine. Next year we should demand a Gonzo category—or maybe RS should give it. Of course. “The First Annual Rolling Stone Award for the Year's Finest Example of Pure Gonzo Journalism.”
  2. (countable) A wild or crazy person.

References[edit]

  1. ^ gonzo, adj.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, April 2013.
  2. ^ What is Gonzo? The Etymology of an Urban Legend, Martin Hirst, 2004.
  3. ^ John A. Simpson and Edmund S. C. Weiner, editors (1989), “gonzo”, in The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, →ISBN.

Further reading[edit]

Galician[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Old French gons, from Latin gomphus, from Ancient Greek γόμφος (gómphos), from Proto-Hellenic *gómpʰos, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵómbʰos. Doublet of golfón.

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): /ˈɡon.θo/, [ˈɡonθʊ], (western) [ˈɡonsʊ]
  • Hyphenation: gon‧zo

Noun[edit]

gonzo m (plural gonzos)

  1. hinge
    Synonyms: bisagra f, porlón m

Derived terms[edit]

References[edit]

  • gonço” in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval, SLI - ILGA 2006–2022.
  • gonzo” in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega, SLI - ILGA 2006–2013.
  • gonzo” in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega. Santiago: ILG.
  • gonzo” in Álvarez, Rosario (coord.): Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués, Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega.

Italian[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Unknown. Some suggest by aphesis from Latin verēcundus (bashful, shamefaced, see verecondo and vergogna).

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): /ˈɡon.d͡zo/
  • Rhymes: -ondzo
  • Hyphenation: gón‧zo

Adjective[edit]

gonzo (feminine gonza, masculine plural gonzi, feminine plural gonze)

  1. stupid, dumb
    Synonyms: babbeo, fesso, grullo, ingenuo, scemo, sciocco, sempliciotto, sprovveduto, stolto, stupido, tonto

Noun[edit]

gonzo m (plural gonzi, feminine gonza)

  1. simpleton, dolt; dupe
    Synonyms: babbeo, fesso, grullo, ingenuo, minchione, scemo, sciocco, sempliciotto, sprovveduto, stolto, stupido, tonto

Descendants[edit]

  • English: gonzo
  • French: gonze

Portuguese[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

  • Hyphenation: gon‧zo

Etymology 1[edit]

From Old French gons, from Latin gomphus, from Ancient Greek γόμφος (gómphos), from Proto-Hellenic *gómpʰos, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵómbʰos.

Noun[edit]

gonzo m (plural gonzos)

  1. hinge (device for the pivoting of a door)
    Synonyms: dobradiça, charneira, quício
    • 1995, José Saramago, Ensaio sobre a cegueira, Caminho:
      Esperavam o ruído do portão ao ser aberto, o guincho agudo dos gonzos por untar, []
      They waited for the sound of the gate being opened, the shrill squeal of the hinges in need of oil, []

Etymology 2[edit]

From Italian gonzo.

Adjective[edit]

gonzo (feminine gonza, masculine plural gonzos, feminine plural gonzas)

  1. (journalism) gonzo