Etymology

wooden language

Today it means: Speech or writing that is overly abstract, vague, metaphorical or pretentious in order to avoid addressing salient issues. Full definition →

French langue de bois
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The story

  1. French · calque oflangue de bois
  2. English todaywooden language

Calque of French langue de bois.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.