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Pablum

[ pab-luhm ]

Trademark.
  1. a brand of soft, bland cereal for infants.


noun

  1. (lowercase) trite, naive, or simplistic ideas or writings; intellectual pap.

Pablum

/ ˈpɑːbləm /

noun

  1. a cereal food for infants, developed in Canada
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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Example Sentences

“Porridge? Mushy peas? Pablum? Oh, let me guess, it’s tapioca isn’t it? Is it tapioca? Or are we calling it rice pudding tonight?”

The former CIA analyst recalled a House hearing on intelligence which featured some 10 bureaucrats he described as a ” mob of intelligence officials spouting the same watered-down Pablum.”

I smelt a mingling of Pablum and sour milk and salt-cod-stinky diapers and felt sorrowful and tender.

Did they appreciate how a country girl mastered the Pablum pop idiom of the early 1950s and set it gently aflame?

From Time

Pablum tarted up with tennis racquets, “16-Love” is, in a sense, the perfect movie for teenagers: you can text and tweet to your heart’s content and never miss a thing.

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More About Pablum

What does pablum mean?

Pablum is a noun referring to ideas, speech, writing, or other media that are bland or simplistic or that lack any real intellectual substance or value.

The term pablum comes directly from the brand name Pablum, which manufactured a children’s cereal known for being bland and easily digestible.

Example: Celebrity news is the sort of pablum that distracts people from the actual issues happening in our world.

Where does pablum come from?

The brand name Pablum was probably based on a shortening of the word pabulum, which is a scientific term that essentially means “food.” The Pablum brand of cereal was first sold by the company in the early 1930s. Later, at least by the 1950s, people started using the word pablum for any kind of plain cereal similar to the original Pablum (like how people say Xerox or Kleenex or Scotch tape even when they’re not using those exact brands, much to the frustration of corporate lawyers).

But then something else happened with pablum. Its meaning was extended even further to refer to dumbed-down writing and other forms of media or communication. The first records of this use are from the late 1980s. This is now the most common use of the word pablum. It is typically used when criticizing stuff that lacks substance—the intellectual equivalent of cold mush. It is used especially to refer to generic political speech or the type of TV and movies made to appeal to the largest possible audience.

Did you know ... ?

What are some synonyms for pablum?

What are some words that often get used in discussing pablum?

 

How is pablum used in real life?

When someone calls something pablum, they mean it has no real thinking behind it and that most people will consume it without thinking about it—just like a bland bowl of cereal. It can be used to describe just about anything, but it’s especially used in the context of politics and pop culture.

 

 

Try using pablum!

Which of the following is least likely to be called pablum?

A. a simplistic blog post that lacks a purpose
B. a talk show that focuses on celebrity drama
C. a well-researched essay that introduces innovative ideas
D. a generic speech by a politician that doesn’t propose anything

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