I'm sure I saw, recently, a word for this, but I can no longer remember, or find, it.
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5Philosopher Stephen Law has written about 'pseudo-profundity', 'deepity' and 'trite-nalogy': stephenlaw.blogspot.co.uk/2011/06/… The term 'false profundity' is also an option.– A EOct 23, 2014 at 23:05
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4Shakespeare (and Faulkner) had a phrase for it - a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.– bibOct 23, 2014 at 23:35
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3I like this one: tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/IceCreamKoan– neminemOct 24, 2014 at 16:15
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2Related (but arguably not duplicate) question: english.stackexchange.com/questions/158600/…– Curtis H.Oct 24, 2014 at 21:58
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2how about "a tweet"– KutuluMikeOct 25, 2014 at 20:10
12 Answers
Possibly platitude:
A trite or banal remark or statement, especially one expressed as if it were original or significant.
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I think this is the perfect word for what you're looking for. A couple of other answers fit decently, but I think this one fits best by far. Upvoted appropriately. For examples, consider "Hard work always pays off", "Everything happens for a reason", "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger", etc.– Doktor JOct 24, 2014 at 20:46
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@DoktorJ: see also philosophy.stackexchange.com/questions/149/… :) Oct 24, 2014 at 22:10
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6I don't think this fits because a platitude is not meant to impress; it is merely meant to persuade. And triteness is in stark contrast to the profundity the sentence is intended to convey. Oct 25, 2014 at 2:46
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3A platitude never "sounds profound or deep" - it literally means flatness.– ekhumoroOct 25, 2014 at 17:02
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@MatthewHannigan and ekhumoro: there are two aspects to a platitude: the intended force and the actual content. the triteness and flatness applies to the actual content of the statement, which is in stark contrast to the profundity of its intended force.– DanielOct 26, 2014 at 19:12
Perhaps grandiloquence
Pompous or extravagant in language, style, or manner, especially in a way that is intended to impress: a grandiloquent celebration of Spanish glory
Similarly, bombast
High-sounding language with little meaning, used to impress people.
[both Oxford Dictionaries Online]
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2Naturally, pompous bombast is more grandiloquent than bombast alone. Oct 24, 2014 at 14:54
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3@WayfaringStranger How about pompous bombastic grandiloquent platitudes!– bibOct 24, 2014 at 14:57
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2
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I good word for this might be meretricious, which means, courtesy of Oxford:
Apparently attractive but having in reality no value or integrity.
It's not exactly what you're looking for, but it describes pretty accurately.
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Heads-up: your answer on Trotsky and racism question was migrated to Skeptics.SE. You may want to log in to that site, so you don't lose the reputation (you don't have an account there yet); and I hope you don't mind my edit adding Google ngram– DVKJun 7, 2015 at 20:45
Were you perhaps thinking of deepity?
The term refers to a statement that is apparently profound but actually asserts a triviality on one level and something meaningless on another.
E.g.: "love is just a word"
On one level the statement is perfectly true (i.e., love is a word) but the deeper meaning of the phrase is false; love is many things — a feeling, an emotion, a condition — and not simply a word.
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1I think Daniel Dennett defined it as a statement made ambiguous by the inclusion or omission of quotation marks, such that one meaning is true but trivial, and the other is false but would be profound if it were true.– BetaOct 24, 2014 at 3:11
If done intentionally then I might say sophistry, which the OED defines as:
a. Specious but fallacious reasoning; employment of arguments which are intentionally deceptive.
In offices it's also quite common to refer to what you describe using an impolite term for bull excrement.
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2Somewhat ironically, I think "specious" is actually more apt in this context than "sophistry".– ekhumoroOct 25, 2014 at 17:14
"BS," is the most popularly used term, and has attained some formal credentials (see Harry G. Frankfurt "On Bullshit," Princeton University Press).
It can be called a wind and you can use windy as an adjective.
wind - Empty, pompous, or boastful talk; meaningless rhetoric.
windy - Using or expressed in many words that sound impressive but mean little
The first word that came to my mind was "pretentious."
attempting to impress by affecting greater importance or merit than is actually possessed.
Surprised nobody has yet suggested (or even mentioned) truism.
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3I decided not to mention it because a truism isn't "in fact, meaningless or empty": a truism is just true.– ChrisWOct 27, 2014 at 11:12
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1A Truism is a Platitude and most Platitudes fall into the category of Truisms. Ex: If you are good you will do good. Thank you Tim this is a perfectly valid answer for the question. Mar 25, 2018 at 11:07
A good adjective is
pompous
Something pompous is always very showy, but it is implied that its real value is less than at first glance. It can be used for a person's mannerisms, but also for sentences/phrasing and in many other cases.
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And pomposity would be the noun (which is what OP asks for). Oct 26, 2014 at 15:10
I would suggest: Hollow
Without real significance or value:
Easier to use in a conversation then some of the more formal suggestions