23sep2009

farrago

\fuh-RAH-go; fuh-RAY-go\ , noun:

1.A confused mixture; an assortment; a medley.

Quotes:

Ivan Illich writes "a farrago of sub-Marxist cliches, false analogies, non sequiturs, false or bent facts and weird prophesies."

-- "The Paul Johnson Enemies List", New York Times, September 18, 1977

Roy Hattersley will upset much of Scotland by calling Walter Scott's lvanhoe "a farrago of historical nonsense combined with maudlin romance."

-- "Literary classics panned by critics", Independent, January 18, 1999

From the moment the story of the Countess of Wessex and the Sheikh of Wapping broke, there has been a farrago of rumour, speculation and fantasy of which virtually every newspaper should be ashamed.

-- Roy Greenslade, "A sting in the tale", The Guardian, April 9, 2001

Origin:

Farrago comes from the Latin farrago, "a mixed fodder for cattle," hence "a medley, a hodgepodge," from far, a sort of grain.