Nothingburger, sometimes spelled as nothing-burger or nothing burger, is a term used to describe a situation that receives a lot of attention, but which, upon closer examination, reveals to be of little to no real significance.
The phrase refers to the notion that a regular
hamburger
A hamburger, or simply burger, is a food consisting of fillings—usually a patty of ground meat, typically Ground beef, beef—placed inside a sliced bun or bread roll. Hamburgers are often served with cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles ...
should have different flavorful ingredients, but if the meat were to be removed, all that would be left would be a "nothingburger", thus many ingredients might be on the outside, but upon further inspection on the inside, nothing remains.
History
The term "nothingburger" was first coined in the 1950s by Hollywood gossip columnist
Louella Parsons,
and has a history of use in American political circles, especially within the
Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
beltway. The term reached its peak usage, especially among United States political circles in the late 2010s. In 2017, United States Senator
Ted Cruz
Rafael Edward "Ted" Cruz (; born December 22, 1970) is an American politician and attorney serving as the junior United States Senator from Texas since 2013. A member of the Republican Party, Cruz served as Solicitor General of Texas from ...
used the word in response to questions around then–United States Attorney General
Jeff Sessions, saying: "The underlying meeting is a nothingburger. It's what senators do every day, meeting with foreign ambassadors. That's part of the job."
Later in the same year,
CNN
CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by the M ...
commentator
Van Jones described the
allegations of collusion between Russia and Donald Trump as a "nothingburger" in a covertly recorded conversation.
The ''
Oxford English Dictionary
The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the first and foundational historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP). It traces the historical development of the English language, providing a com ...
'' was reported by the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...
to have added "nothingburger" as a valid word to its dictionary as recently as 2018. It defined the word thus: "Nothingburger is a way of describing someone or something seen to have little importance." , the
Merriam-Webster
Merriam-Webster, Inc. is an American company that publishes reference books and is especially known for its dictionaries. It is the oldest dictionary publisher in the United States.
In 1831, George and Charles Merriam founded the company as ...
dictionary, which focuses on
American English
American English, sometimes called United States English or U.S. English, is the set of variety (linguistics), varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is the Languages of the United States, most widely spoken lan ...
usage, had not yet included nothingburger as a valid word to be defined in its dictionaries, but has a page dedicated to monitoring the word and is considering the word for inclusion potentially in the future.
Spelling variations also exist, with no apparent consensus regarding spelling. All variants, including "Nothingburger", "Nothing burger", "no thing burger", or the hyphenated "Nothing-burger", have appeared in press and in social media usage by popular and political figures.
See also
*
Where's the beef?
References
{{Wiktionary
1950s neologisms
1950s slang
Hamburgers (food)