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gonzo

/ˈgɑnzoʊ/

Gonzo means bizarre or unconventional, like your wacky friend's gonzo style of dressing or the gonzo stories in the news that make you want to shut your laptop and turn off the TV.

The adjective gonzo first appeared in print in a 1971 Rolling Stone article by Hunter S. Thompson — it was both the name of a character, "Dr. Gonzo," and a writing style, "gonzo journalism," which gained popularity over the next decade. Gonzo journalism had an exaggerated, nonobjective style, often featuring the writer as part of the story. Thompson credited the term gonzo to a Boston Globe editor who claimed it was Boston slang for "bizarre."

Definitions of gonzo
  1. adjective
    conspicuously or grossly unconventional or unusual
    synonyms: bizarre, eccentric, flakey, flaky, freakish, freaky, off-the-wall, outlandish, outre
    unconventional
    not conventional or conformist
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