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Until Barack O'Bama used the word "wrongheaded" today, I had never heard it before, yet I see its origin listed as 1725-1735. Are others of you familiar with the word in common usage?
 
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wrongheaded

I've heard it before, but its meaning can easily be determined from its constituent parts.


Ceci n'est pas un seing.
 
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Senators Byrd, Hagel and Obama have each used the word "wrongheaded" in recent days, in the same context. So there's obviously some copying going on.

(Nothing wrong with that. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.)
 
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I've heard it fairly frequently.


"No man but a blockhead ever wrote except for money." Samuel Johnson.
 
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its meaning can easily be determined from its constituent parts.

To me the word implies not just "wrong" but "stubbornly, obstinately wrong". And I don't see a concept of "obstinance" in the constituant parts.
 
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Like Bob, I've heard it fairly often. Perhaps it's more common in the UK?


Build a man a fire and he's warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.
 
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To me the word implies not just "wrong" but "stubbornly, obstinately wrong". And I don't see a concept of "obstinance" in the constituant parts.

Maybe I was thinking of strongheaded.


Ceci n'est pas un seing.
 
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Yes, or 'pigheaded' or 'bullheaded'.

You were right, zmj, and I wrong: in the context, the meaning is easily deduced.

(Edit: And that, on reflection, is why I didn't say whether the word was familiar to me. I don't know whether I knew it, or deduced it.)
 
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