An evocative Old English-origin dialect word for sycophantic flattery, pertaining to sly persuasion for favours, it derives from two old English words – wær meaning cautious, and sealm meaning speech. The verb, to warzle, means to creep along softly in and out, like the motion of a snake, and is similar to the word wheedle, to obtain by flattery, in which a person would warzle another up another by flattery and deceive.
Even if such words aren’t used, we’ve all encountered people who warzle in our lives, particularly those with ambition in the workplace. In literature, two of the greatest are the calculating curate, Obadiah Slope, in the Anthony Trollope’s Barchester Chronicles, and the greasy hand-wringing mannerisms of Uriah Heep in Charles Dickens’ David Copperfield.
In song lyrics, it would be hard to find the actual word, but here are a couple of examples in which the context of flattery to deceive appear:
Elvis Costello and The Imposters – American Gangster Time:
“What you got hidden up your sleeve?
The tracks of the train that were bidding you to leave
When they say that you should flatter to deceive”
Teenage Fanclub – It’s All In My Mind:
“Everything's illusion
And I flatter to deceive
My life is going fast It's make believe”
Simon Tall - Swimming In The Deep Blue Sea:
“And life will take all those words that you fake
Deceive to flatter”
Feel free to share anything in relation to warzlement, whether in music or wider culture, such as from film, art, or other contexts, in comments below.
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