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Examples

  • His thoughts on paywalls, newspapers and the evils of TV provoked almost 1,000 overwhelmingly positive tweets; from @webcloud's "Gotta love anyone that uses 'panglossian' in conversation" to @JayOatway's "Awesome interview."

    The readers' room: what you thought of G2 this week 2010

  • When we look back on American history with our typical panglossian perspective, we tend to imagine that at every great moment, our nation was propelled into the future by the right person who had the right speech to stir our souls at the right time.

    House GOP Caucus Could Do Better Than 'Braveheart' As Their Source Of Cinematic Pep The Huffington Post News Team 2011

  • This was why art, for instance, invariably dealt in generalisations – and panglossian ones at that.

    The Rise and Fall of Ancient Egypt by Toby Wilkinson; Myths and Legends of Ancient Egypt by Joyce Tyldesley; and Egyptian Dawn by Robert Temple Tom Holland 2010

  • "No one could've predicted" that this panglossian enterprise would balloon into a trillion dollar war with four thousand dead Americans, thirty thousand injured ... while Bin Laden and his #2 are keeping tabs on the action from Waziristan, and will soon be fondly recalling the events of seven Septembers ago.

    Archive 2008-06-01 2008

  • "No one could've predicted" that this panglossian enterprise would balloon into a trillion dollar war with four thousand dead Americans, thirty thousand injured ... while Bin Laden and his #2 are keeping tabs on the action from Waziristan, and will soon be fondly recalling the events of seven Septembers ago.

    Your Right Hand Thief 2008

  • I think that legal academics will have much to contribute in the reform of finance in the remaking of institutions and markets with fewer panglossian assumptions about how they will find optimal solutions on their own, and with fewer panglossian assumptions that they will do so as a matter of natural necessity.

    The Volokh Conspiracy » 2009 » August 2009

  • I think that legal academics will have much to contribute in the reform of finance in the remaking of institutions and markets with fewer panglossian assumptions about how they will find optimal solutions on their own, and with fewer panglossian assumptions that they will do so as a matter of natural necessity.

    The Volokh Conspiracy » Judge Posner Asks Where Are the Law Professors 2009

  • Bush refuses Congress 'attempts to curtail his vanity war, and he's certain that al Sadr's puppets will make the political progress necessary for Bush to realize his panglossian dream of "victory" in Iraq.

    Archive 2007-05-01 2007

  • The real answer here is as panglossian as the thought of Mount Utilitarian: eliminate contributions to campaigns, squeeze out the money factor from lobbying, or, even crazier, ban all contact between financial interests or their representatives and Congress.

    Robert Teitelman: How Should We Think About Bank Lobbying? 2009

  • But none of that stops me from seeing that, yeah, the nativist claims about what a huge population transfer would mean are, sadly, slightly more to the point than your panglossian effort.

    John Terry’s sacking as England captain tells us something interesting... 2009

Comments

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  • I once fell for someone when he used this word.

    January 24, 2007

  • I wish I were.

    May 19, 2008

  • Naively or unreasonably optimistic. (Wiktionary)

    May 28, 2008

  • Dr. Pangloss is a character in Candide by Voltaire.

    May 20, 2009