[Vocabulary] Cod Romance

[Cynthia Garett]

Hello,

I have a question related to this paragraph. I can't seem to figure out what's a "cod romance". Could someone please explain?

Thank you.

The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw labelled Hirschbiegel's film "an excruciatingly well-intentioned, reverential and sentimental biopic about her troubled final years, laced with bizarre cardboard dialogue", while the Observer's Mark Kermode called it "a film which has neither backbone nor teeth, swerving drearily between hagiography ('I just want to help people!') and hapless cod romance, interspersed with hokey landmine photo-ops and scenic cultural detours through Lahore".

 

[Tdol]

The romance is portrayed in an unconvincing, embarrassing way.

 

[bhaisahab]

Hello,

I have a question related to this paragraph. I can't seem to figure out what's a "cod romance". Could someone please explain?

Thank you.

The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw labelled Hirschbiegel's film "an excruciatingly well-intentioned, reverential and sentimental biopic about her troubled final years, laced with bizarre cardboard dialogue", while the Observer's Mark Kermode called it "a film which has neither backbone nor teeth, swerving drearily between hagiography ('I just want to help people!') and hapless cod romance, interspersed with hokey landmine photo-ops and scenic cultural detours through Lahore".

"Cod" in that context means false, counterfeit, bogus.

 

[Barb_D]

Glad you were here to explain that. I had no idea!

 

[MikeNewYork]

Glad you were here to explain that. I had no idea!

Scroll down to the 9th entry: Cod - definition of Cod by the Free Online Dictionary, Thesaurus and Encyclopedia.

 

[bhaisahab]

Scroll down to the 9th entry: Cod - definition of Cod by the Free Online Dictionary, Thesaurus and Encyclopedia.

It's more common in Irish English than in BrE.

 

[Tdol]

It was quite popular a few years ago, but I haven't heard it much in BrE recently.

 

[emsr2d2]

I have a question related to this paragraph. I can't seem to figure out [strike]what's[/strike] what a "cod romance" is. Could someone please explain?

Note my correction to the word order of your second sentence. You were not asking a direct question so "what's a cod romance" was incorrect.

 

[Barb_D]

Yes, but there are all sorts of definitions in the dictionary that a person might never hear used in real life.

I have NEVER heard it used that way. A cod is a fish. If you hadn't been here to answer it, I would have assumed someone made a typo - which is often a more likely case than an esoteric meaning found in a dictionary.

That's why having speakers from such a wide geography is so useful. Common in one place, unused in another.

 

[konungursvia]

As in, a codpiece?

 

[MikeNewYork]

Yes, but there are all sorts of definitions in the dictionary that a person might never hear used in real life.

I have NEVER heard it used that way. A cod is a fish. If you hadn't been here to answer it, I would have assumed someone made a typo - which is often a more likely case than an esoteric meaning found in a dictionary.

That's why having speakers from such a wide geography is so useful. Common in one place, unused in another.

I had never heard of it either.

 

[Barb_D]

And now I hear that Lady Gaga song in my head, except it's "Cod Romance."

 

[MikeNewYork]

As in, a codpiece?

Thank you. Now codpiece makes sense to me.

 

[Cynthia Garett]

Thank you all. I also knew that a "cod" is a type of fish. It seems it also means fake. English is a very complicated language .