Boastful or exaggerated talk; empty bragging or tall tales meant to impress or deceive.
From French gasconnade, derived from Gascon. Emerged in English in the 17th century, taking the stereotype of Gascon boasters and turning it into a noun describing the behavior itself.
This is a delightful example of how one region's reputation became a universal word—English didn't invent a new word for bragging, it just named it after the people stereotyped as doing it most!
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