Question

panjandrum noun Panjandrum looks like it might be a combination of Latin and Greek roots, but in fact it is a nonsense word coined by British actor and playwright Samuel Foote around 1755. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, Foote made up a line of gibberish to "test the memory of his fellow actor Charles Macklin, who had asserted that he could repeat anything after hearing it once." Foote's made-up line was, "And there were present the Picninnies, and the Joblillies, and the Garyulies and the Grand Panjandrum himself, with the little round button at the top." Some 75 years after this, Foote's passage appeared in a book of stories for children by the Anglo-Irish writer Maria Edgeworth. It took another quarter century before English speakers actually incorporated panjandrum into their general vocabulary. : a powerful personage or pretentious official

Accepted Answer

March 10, 2015 pan-JAN-drum Little gets done in this town without the approval of the local panjandrums on the board of selectmen.   "Unexpectedly, this private sector panjandrum launched into a paean of praise for the public service ethos." - David Walker, The Guardian, January 30, 2015

Word	panjandrum
Date	March 10, 2015
Type	noun
Syllables	pan-JAN-drum
Etymology	Panjandrum looks like it might be a combination of Latin and Greek roots, but in fact it is a nonsense word coined by British actor and playwright Samuel Foote around 1755. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, Foote made up a line of gibberish to "test the memory of his fellow actor Charles Macklin, who had asserted that he could repeat anything after hearing it once." Foote's made-up line was, "And there were present the Picninnies, and the Joblillies, and the Garyulies and the Grand Panjandrum himself, with the little round button at the top." Some 75 years after this, Foote's passage appeared in a book of stories for children by the Anglo-Irish writer Maria Edgeworth. It took another quarter century before English speakers actually incorporated panjandrum into their general vocabulary.
Examples	Little gets done in this town without the approval of the local panjandrums on the board of selectmen. "Unexpectedly, this private sector panjandrum launched into a paean of praise for the public service ethos." - David Walker, The Guardian, January 30, 2015
Definition	: a powerful personage or pretentious official

Panjandrum Actor Foote English Line Foote's March Noun