You probably know "highfalutin" when you hear it. Spelling it is another matter.
The good news is that however you've been spelling it, you're probably right. "Highfalutin" has never settled on a single accepted spelling. It appears as one word, two words, hyphenated, with and without a final "g," and sometimes even with an apostrophe to suggest that the "g" has been dropped.
The meaning is much easier to pin down. "Highfalutin" describes language or behavior that's pretentious, pompous, overly grand. The Oxford English Dictionary's first citation is from is from 1839, when a sporting journal referred to "them highfalutin chaps."
Its origins are much less certain. One theory suggests it evolved from "high-fluting," as if someone was getting noticed for playing high notes on a flute. Others connect it to "high-flying" or "high-flown," expressions that have been used since the 1500s and 1600s to describe lofty or bombastic language. Another theory traces the word to Yiddish spoken in Liverpool's Jewish community during the early 19th century.
While linguists continue to debate where "highfalutin" came from, modern technology has introduced a new wrinkle. Because spell checkers often don't recognize the word, they sometimes "correct" it to "flatulent," though that can be accidentally fitting when describing someone who's a bit of a windbag.
To hear more about "highfalutin," listen to the audio above.
