Adjective meaning to be blindly or naively optimistic.
Example
Yesterday, in a congressional district of New York State that has been overwhelmingly Republican since the time of the Romans, one of the most well-known and experienced Republican politicians in New York State narrowly lost [probably, pending recount] a special election for a seat in Congress to an unknown Democrat with no political experience, who has been living in this district for less than 10 years. When asked to comment on this, the Panglossian National Chairman of the Republican Party, Michael Steele, had this to say:
"[We] went toe-to-toe with the Obama Democratic machine that looked invincible in the Northeast just a few months ago and showed that our party can and will be competitive in areas of the country where our party hasn't won recently."Synonyms
Polyannaish, roseate, sanguine.
2 comments:
I have used this term quite often myself, after I read Voltaire's Candide. Which is where it comes from, as there is a character named Dr. Pangloss who has the belief that the world is the best it can possibly be because god made it, and we are in the best possible circumstances because it is the nature of life as god would make it, god is all that is good and therefore the world is good. Highly naive and irresponsible in a way, but that was the point of the rather satirical novel, sometimes your life is shit, and yes it can get worse.
It is almost sad the way the GOP is getting trounced..almost.
Kind of like the way I felt after watching the Oliver Stone film "W", kind of felt bad for 'junior' but then realized that pity is not worthwhile for elitists.
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