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The origin of this word should be of interest especially to those iron maidens who scathingly refer to men who look down on women as male chauvinist pigs.

There was this soldier in the army of Napoleon named Nicholas Chauvin. Now, this good soldier Nicholas Chauvin was so enamored of his little general, Napoleon, so that he refused to lose faith in his idol even after the shattering defeat at Waterloo. Chauvin was wounded many times in battle, but he did not allow his condition to cool his ardor for his beloved Napoleon. Thus, he would sing of his love for the little general, and the exploits of the latter….so often, people began to either tire of this effort or laugh at him. It got to a point wherein playwrights and songwriters would make nasty caricatures of poor Nicholas Chauvin. In no time at all, the name of the loyal soldier transformed into CHAUVINISM, which translates into unreasoning and vainglorious patriotism.