A great deal of noise, over not very much at all.
what it means
A brouhaha is the noise a crowd makes, and the word sounds like the thing — say it out loud and you can hear the babble in it. In the drawing, nine men are shouting at once, hats going up, every arm in the air. Then look at what they are shouting about: a spoon. That gap is the whole word. A brouhaha is never the event itself; it is the fuss around the event, and the fuss is always the bigger of the two. So when the news reports a brouhaha over a player's haircut, it is telling you two things in one word — that everybody shouted, and that it was only a haircut.
Brouhaha es el ruido que hace una multitud por algo pequeño. Mira el dibujo: nueve hombres gritan a la vez, vuelan los sombreros… y todo es por una cuchara. Esa distancia entre el ruido y el motivo es la palabra entera. El escándalo siempre acaba siendo más grande que su causa.
Brouhaha é o barulho de uma multidão por causa de quase nada. No desenho, nove homens gritam ao mesmo tempo, chapéus voando — e o motivo é uma colher. Essa distância entre o barulho e a causa é a palavra inteira. O alvoroço é sempre maior que o motivo.
Brouhaha nous vient du français, et l'anglais lui a gardé son bruit. Mais il y ajoute une pointe de moquerie : neuf hommes crient, les chapeaux volent, et tout cela pour une cuillère. Le vacarme est toujours plus grand que sa raison.
Brouhaha adalah keributan orang banyak karena hal kecil. Lihat gambarnya: sembilan orang berteriak bersamaan, topi beterbangan — dan penyebabnya cuma sendok. Jarak antara ributnya dan sebabnya itulah arti katanya. Ributnya selalu lebih besar dari alasannya.
Brouhaha, kalabalığın küçücük bir şey için çıkardığı gürültüdür. Resme bakın: dokuz adam aynı anda bağırıyor, şapkalar havada — sebebi ise bir kaşık. Gürültüyle sebebi arasındaki bu mesafe, kelimenin kendisidir. Yaygara her zaman sebebinden büyüktür.
brouhaha は、たいしたことのない出来事に群衆が立てる騒ぎです。絵を見てください。九人が一斉に叫び、帽子が舞い上がる——原因はスプーン一本。この落差こそが言葉の意味です。騒ぎはいつも原因より大きくなります。
noun
a loud, excited fuss about something fairly small
“The new logo caused a brouhaha that died down within a week.”
noun
the public noise around an event, rather than the event
“Lost in the brouhaha was the fact that nobody had read the report.”
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Nine men are shouting, hats in the air — and the cause is a spoon. Why draw it that way?
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