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This word, which is mostly used in informal contexts, consists of three syllables. The first rhymes with the words ‘dam’, ‘Sam’ and ‘ham’, while the ‘oo’ that follows sounds like ‘oo’ in ‘fool’, ‘cool’ and ‘pool’. The final vowel sounds like the ‘a’ in ‘china’. The word is pronounced bam-BOO-zel with the stress on the second syllable. Nobody is certain about the origin of the word — some think that it is of Scottish origin, while others believe that it comes from the French ‘embabouiner’ meaning ‘to make a fool of’. Everyone, however, agrees that the word has been part of the English language since the early 18th century.
Bamboozle has several different meanings. One of them is to get someone to do something they do not want to — you achieve this either by tricking them or by flattering them. Professional conmen make a living out of bamboozling people. Other expressions which have more or less the same meaning are ‘pull the wool over someone’s eyes’ and ‘hoodwink someone’.
Please don’t talk to Raju without your lawyer being present. He will bamboozle you into signing the contract.
The salesperson bamboozled us into buying a new car.
Bamboozle can also be used to mean to frustrate or confuse someone.
The batsman bamboozled the bowlers when he switched to batting lefthanded.
Our team’s new defence bamboozled the opponents, and we won quite easily.
In the works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the great detective Sherlock Holmes is usually accompanied by Dr Watson on all his adventures. Similarly, in some of Agatha Christie’s novels, the great Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot, is accompanied by his friend, Captain Hastings. Though Hastings and Watson have an important role to play in the stories/novels they appear in, they are not the most important characters in any of them. They are mere ‘sidekicks’ to the hero in the novel — namely, Poirot and Holmes. An individual’s sidekick is someone who spends a lot of time with them and helps them in whatever way possible; he is present for the big adventure. A sidekick could be the main character’s best friend or he could be a colleague. Ron is Harry’s sidekick in the Harry Potter series. According to definitions in dictionaries, a sidekick need not necessarily be a human being; it’s possible for an animal to be a person’s sidekick. In the old Tarzan movies, it is a chimpanzee, Cheeta, which is the hero’s sidekick; in the Phantom comic series, it is a wolf named Devil.
In the fight, the hero and his sidekick bash up ten people.
The way the puppy follows you around, it may soon become your sidekick.
There are various theories about the origin of this word. According to one, in informal contexts in American English, the term ‘kick’ was frequently used to mean ‘wander’ or ‘walk’. So, a ‘sidekick’ is someone who wanders or walks by the side of his friend and meets whatever challenges that come their way. Other terms used in the past were ‘side-partner’ and ‘side-pal’.
Text and Context
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Know Your English
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