Nothingburger
The term "nothingburger" generally refers to an overblown or overhyped situation. Possibly analogous to lifting open hamburger buns, and finding no burger patty there—a "nothingburger".

Nothingburger, sometimes spelled as nothing-burger or nothing burger, is a term used to describe a situation that receives a lot of attention, but which, upon closer examination, reveals to be of little to no real significance.

The phrase refers to the notion that a regular hamburger is supposed to have numerous different flavorful and colorful ingredients and taste, but if the meat or "burger" portion were to be removed, all that would be left would be a "nothingburger", thus many colorful or interesting things might be on the outside, but upon further inspection on the inside, "nothing" remains.

History

The term "nothingburger" was first coined in the 1950s by Hollywood gossip columnist Louella Parsons,[1][2] and has a history of use in American political circles, especially within the Washington, D.C. beltway. The term reached its peak usage, especially among United States political circles in the late 2010s.[3] In 2017, United States Senator Ted Cruz used the word in response to questions around then–United States Attorney General Jeff Sessions, saying: "The underlying meeting is a nothingburger. It's what senators do every day, meeting with foreign ambassadors. That's part of the job."[2]

The Oxford English Dictionary was reported by the BBC to have added "nothingburger" as a valid word to its dictionary as recently as 2018. It defined the word thus: "Nothingburger is a way of describing someone or something seen to have little importance."[4] As of 2023, the Merriam-Webster dictionary, which focuses on American English usage, had not yet included nothingburger as a valid word to be defined in its dictionaries, but has a page dedicated to monitoring the word and is considering the word for inclusion potentially in the future.[5]

Spelling variations also exist, with no apparent consensus regarding spelling. All variants, including "Nothingburger", "nothingburger", "Nothing Burger", "Nothing burger", "nothing burger", "no thing burger", or the hyphenated "Nothing-burger", have appeared in press and in social media usage by popular and political figures.[6]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Pereira, Alyssa (July 12, 2017). "Where did the term 'nothing burger' actually originate?". SFGate. Retrieved February 8, 2023.
  2. 1 2 Zimmer, Ben (March 9, 2017). "'Nothingburger': From 1950s Hollywood to the White House". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on March 13, 2017. Retrieved February 8, 2023.
  3. ↑ Willingham, AJ (July 14, 2017). "'Nothing burger' is nothing new. It's been around for decades". CNN. Retrieved February 8, 2023.
  4. ↑ "Fam and nothingburger added to Oxford English Dictionary". BBC News. October 5, 2018. Retrieved February 8, 2023.
  5. ↑ "Words We're Watching: 'Nothingburger'". Merriam-Webster. February 22, 2018. Retrieved February 8, 2023.
  6. ↑ Vejnoska, Jill (July 12, 2017). "What's a "Nothing Burger?" An official history of that suddenly popular (and annoying) phrase". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Retrieved February 8, 2023.
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