The word “brash” I always thought to mean “tending towards behaviour bold and challenging.”\u00a0 You might imagine a few half-drunk young men showing up at a local bar, talking loudly, making daring statements, yet showing no fear of the impressions people might get.\u00a0 Those young men might be described as “brash”.<\/p>\n
Just for confirmation, I looked up brash in my Collins Essential English Dictionary<\/u> the other day.\u00a0 A meaning it gives is offensively loud, showy, or self-confident<\/em>.<\/p>\n I wasn’t quite in agreement with Collins, so I looked in my Oxford Canadian Dictionary<\/u>.\u00a0 It defines brash as self-assertive in an overbearing way.<\/em><\/p>\n Next, I turned to Merriam-Webster<\/u>.\u00a0 One of its definitions for brash is impetuous; audacious.\u00a0 <\/em>It gives another based on self-assertiveness.<\/p>\n I’m impressed with how differently worded the definitions are.\u00a0 Clearly, my ideas about brash are most similar to the Merriam-Webster<\/u> interpretation.<\/p>\n The Oxford Canadian<\/u> dictionary gives an additional, completely unrelated definition of brash:\u00a0 loose, broken rock or ice<\/em>.\u00a0 I’ve never heard that.<\/p>\n In so many cases, an academic can be only as good as their sources.<\/p>\n HTH:)<\/p>\n