Meaning of Barneyesque | Babel Free

Definitions

Resembling or characteristic of Barney from the American children’s television series Barney & Friends, a purple anthropomorphic Tyrannosaurus rex who conveys educational messages through songs and small dance routines with a friendly, huggable and optimistic attitude.

Examples

“It’s strange what a few red and white candy-cane fashioned posts can do for a campus. And how easily a carousel lined with big plastic Barneyesque dinosaurs can enliven a normally adult space.”

“Marylen Costumes […] Offers a big selection of somewhat “Barneyesque” designs and a reasonably serious T. rex.”

“So for a couple of years I spent lots of time leafing through children’s picture books. And I discovered that the great majority were mediocre or worse—banal, treacly, shallow, half-assed, depressingly Barneyesque.”

“I ALWAYS THOUGHT THE commercials for Death to Smoochy were baffling. They primarily feature Robin Williams bibbling around in his pixieish way, slamming into walls and jumping on some guy. Why, I wondered, are they advertising it like this when they’ve got an obvious high concept to push: a disgraced children’s entertainer loses it and decides to kill his replacement, a guy in a cute Barneyesque rhino costume?”

“DEATH TO SMOOCHY ◆ (108 mins., R) Set in the Barneyesque world of children’s television, this comedy of backstabbing overkill tells a moldy-oldie, not-nearly-as-nasty-as-it-thinks-it-is joke.”

“When it comes to grading papers, the color red is out. Now in vogue: the very Barneyesque shade of purple.”

“This Wayans farce [Little Man] is about a diminutive ex-con (Marlon [Wayans], whose face has been digitally superimposed upon the body of a little person) who poses as a foundling baby in order to retrieve a stolen diamond. He lands on the doorstep of a Buppie couple (Shawn [Wayans] and [Kerry] Washington) who takes him in despite the protestations of cranky Pops ([John] Witherspoon). They take him to the park, they have a birthday party with Rob Schneider (playing a schlub in a Barney[-]esque suit), and various dads get hit in the crotch again and again.”

““See how we all get along.” / Despite this repeated Barneyesque mantra, I got the clear sense this was not much more than a well-rehearsed beauty pageant. […] Karl Barth had it right when he summarized his teachings with the simple yet profound statement “Jesus loves me, this I know.” Before anyone starts accusing this German heavyweight of becoming more Barneyesque than Barthian (hard to do when Church Dogmatics weighs in at a hefty fourteen volumes!), he’s not doing some happy-happy-joy-joy devotional dance. Rather, he’s revealing the power of the resurrection, the transformative love of the risen Christ that no earthly power can destroy.”

“The Barneyesque beastie [Dinger] (whose purple hue derives from the [Colorado] Rockies’ team colors and not from the then-popular TV dinosaur) began to court controversy from the very beginning.”

“We wondered if people would be puzzled by a book about a deadly virus and play, although those we approached understood the concept of the book intuitively. Yet, a romanticized ‘Barneyesque’ view of play remains primary, that play is a nicety, a simple extra.”

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