Words at Play : 12 Political Putdowns
Definition:
: an innocuously inept and futile person in public office
About the Word:
Despite what it sounds like, no bottoms were throttled in the making of this word; it comes from the name Alexander Throttlebottom, a character invented by George Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind for the 1931 musical Of Thee I Sing.
Example:
"They see one set of friends asserting that big business is really with him and the chamber composed of a lot of little Vice-Presidential Throttlebottoms." — Boston Herald, 9 May 1935
Photo credit: marx-brothers.org
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