windbag

More broadly, though, he cast Barnett as a harmless windbag — “that nutty uncle” who has “no sense of boundaries” or “societal norms,” who “doesn’t necessarily fit in today’s world” and “routinely offends others” with political incorrectness.

Yet there he stood — noted anti-vaxxer, suspected antisemite, overexposed anti-logic windbag — in a position to hijack attention and humiliate a league that has gone to great lengths to promote social equality.

The 1973 “Battle of the Sexes” — King against the chauvinist windbag Bobby Riggs — set a new and lasting tone.

Every actor to incarnate Poirot has played him differently: Tony Randall’s screwball, Albert Finney’s brilliantined grouch and Peter Ustinov’s avuncular windbag made the Belgian a figure of fun.

Its brevity made it an excellent vehicle for wit — a barb for puncturing bloated egos and windbag grandiosity.