sardoodledom

(SAR-doo-duhl-duhm)

noun
Plays having contrived melodramatic plot, concentrating excessively on the technique to the exclusion of characterization.

Etymology
After Victorien Sardou (1831-1908), French playwright; coined by playwright and critic George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950).

Usage
"Most of Lubitsch's other plot sources are hackneyed representatives of Sardoodledom." — Gerald Mast; The Comic Mind: Comedy and the Movies; University of Chicago Press; Aug 17, 2004.

"There is even the Secret of the well-made play, Sardoodledom's ultimate question: who is Godot? Will he come?" — David Bradby, Michael Robinson; Waiting for Godot: Plays in Production; Cambridge University Press; Nov 15, 2001.

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Woohoo! It's spelling bee time in DC, when all sorts of wacky, wild and wonderful words have their day. For example, sardoodledom:

"Kennyi Aouad, 11, of Terre Haute, Ind., became a crowd favorite after he couldn't stop laughing when he was given the funky-sounding word 'Sardoodledom' (a melodramatic plot). He finally composed himself and asked all sorts of questions about the word — definition, part of speech, alternate pronunciations, use in a sentence — then tried to get an unallowable hint by asking: 'Is it kind of like kingdom?' He could hardly believe it when he spelled the word correctly."

Watch the video.

Link: Top spellers move to bee's final rounds - Yahoo! News

Posted May 31, 2007.

See our Word Overheard blog to see interesting uses of strange words.

[fr. sardoodle (blend of Victorien Sardou, French playwright criticized by G. B. Shaw, for the supposed staginess of his plays and doodle) + -dom]
usu. capitalized  mechanically contrived plot structure and stereotyped or unrealistic characterization in drama: staginess, melodrama

IN BRIEF: Mechanically contrived plot structure and stereotyped or unrealistic characterizations in drama.