So, congratulations, Dan! Your newly coined expletive has now gone inter-state and may be well on its way into the national lexicon (is that the right word??)!!

OK—I don’t want to burst your bubble but I will have to confess that the source of the afore-referenced “crap tablet” was none other than a favorite nephew of yours who, upon my recommendation, has become a faithful follower of your blog and who picked up this pearl of a phrase from these very pages.

Nonetheless, word of mouth is, of course, how new words and phrases become an integral part of our culture’s vocabulary and knowing this particular nephew, I feel confident that he’ll be generous in sharing this new expression with all manner of friends and associates! As a matter of fact, the Ohio valley will most assuredly resound with repeated and loudly-proclaimed “crap tablet!!!!”s every autumn Saturday afternoon in response to each and every error committed by the Notre Dame football team during televised games!!!!!!

bold-faced
One entry found for bold-faced.

Main Entry: bold-faced
Pronunciation: ‘bOl(d)-’fAst
Function: adjective
1 : bold in manner or conduct : IMPUDENT
2 usually bold·faced : being or set in boldface

This is from Webster’s:

Topic: ‘Bald face’ or ‘bold face’?

A fellow of our acquaintance, a man known to shave his head clean upon occasion, came right out and asked for the true story behind the phrase bald-faced liar. He wanted to know if an out-and-out liar is more properly called a bold-faced liar or a bald-faced liar.

The truth is this: both are used, and so is barefaced. Bald-faced is the newest term; its first known print appearance dates back only 62 years, to 1943. Bold-faced is some four centuries older than that, dating to 1591. Although you might guess bald-faced developed out of a mishearing of bold-faced, the meanings of the two adjectives are not synonymous. Bold-faced means “bold in manner or conduct; impudent”; bald-faced has the same meaning as barefaced: “open; unconcealed”; and “having or showing a lack of scruples.”

Barefaced is one year older than bold-faced; its first print appearance dates to 1590. But the original meaning of barefaced was literal: it meant “having the face uncovered”, either “beardless” or “wearing no mask.” Not surprisingly, folks using the word barefaced were open to shifting the adjective into the metaphoric realm: barefaced soon came to describe something “unconcealed or open”; and then something “showing or having a lack of scruples.”

Questions or comments? Write us at wftw@aol.com. Production and research support for Word for the Wise comes from Merriam-Webster, publisher of language reference books and CDs including Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, Eleventh Edition.
http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/wftwarch.pl?050405

Here’s a link to the dictionary definition:
http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=bold-faced

For what it’s worth, the whole “crap tablet” campaign is simply a lark, but you would certainly be using it correctly to express your etymological comeuppance. (Just kidding.)

Have a good day.

two-faced, shit-faced (or shitfaced) bald-faced, etc—yes.

Bold-faced, no I’m not buying it. Prove it to me.

No malice intended. I just think your crap tablet idea stinks, and am calling you out on your use of bold faced, too.

I’m familiar with the adjective “bald-faced” as in “bald-faced lie.” That wasn’t the modifier I intended to use. “Bold-faced” is also a legitimate adjective and the one that happened to fit the meaning (brazen, immodest) I wanted to convey in the phrase “bold-faced obscenities.”

I know that my writing is far from perfect, but I must defend myself when falsely accused, especially when the accuser hides behind a mask of anonymity.

And you just wait, the next time you lose your car keys you’ll mutter “crap tablet” under your breath.

Dan

Also, your “crap tablet” idea stinks.