Words worth espousing - "epistemological modesty"

From David Brookes - The Propeller Heads’ Dilemma:

The correct position is the one held by self-loathing intellectuals, like Isaiah Berlin, Edmund Burke, James Madison, Michael Oakeshott and others. These were pointy heads who understood the limits of what pointy heads can know. The phrase for this outlook is epistemological modesty, which would make a fine vanity license plate.

The idea is that the world is too complex for us to know, and therefore policies should be designed that take account of our ignorance...

There’s nothing more dangerous than a propeller head who doesn’t know his limitations.

And from an interview with sociologist Peter Berger, a writer on religion and modern society:

Another way of putting it is to say that the modern challenge is how to live with uncertainty. The basic fault lines today are not between people with different beliefs but between people who hold these beliefs with an element of uncertainty and people who hold these beliefs with a pretense of certitude. There is a middle ground between fanaticism and relativism. I can convey values to my children without pretending a fanatical certitude about them. And you can build a community with people who are neither fanatics nor relativists.

My colleague Adam Seligman uses the term "epistemological modesty." Epistemological modesty means that you believe certain things, but you're modest about these claims. You can be a believer and yet say, I'm not really sure. I think that is a fundamental fault line. I'm inclined to define theological liberalism in terms of being on one side of this fault line rather than in terms of any specific beliefs.

The first was to do with economic policy - and to it I'd include everyone, not just the pointy heads - even if they can sometimes be more dogmatic. The second is to do with religious and other metaphysical claims. I'd say this outlook should apply to all claims. That is, "epistemological modesty" ought to be synonymous with skepticism methinks?

Hat Tip Maggie's Farm

Words worth espousing - Beclown

I only believe it is cromulent to accept a new word in the English language if there is no equivalent word that expresses the same meaning as well. New words such as beclown embiggen our language. From the Urban Dictionary, beclown means:

To make a complete idiot of oneself in public. To behave or speak in such a way, or to make a comment or express an opinion that is so profoundly witless, senseless and obtuse, that you have forever after defined yourself as a person of comical value only. Never to be taken seriously again. Of worth only as an object of ridicule and derision.

Just as to befoul yourself is to make yourself foul, to beclown yourself is to turn yourself into a clown. Beclown is therefore perfectly cromulent. One example given by the Urban Dictionary:

Former Reagan staffer Doug Bandow has also beclowned himself by claiming that the Bali terrorist bombing was in response to Australia's Iraq involvement. Even though the Bali bombing was before the Iraq war.

The only equivalent phrase I can think that arguably captures such stupidity is to hoist oneself by one's own petard. (The origin of this is from Shakespeare and means to blow oneself up - a petard was a medieval explosive, and the etymology of petard is from the Latin word pedere; which means to "break wind".) I think beclown captures incidences such as the example above better, has greater currency and a more obvious intuitive meaning.

In this day and age of "Web 2.0" there are numerous examples of people beclowning themselves. The more recent example that has come to my attention was the expulsion of the biologist and blogger P. Z. Myers from the movie Expelled, which he was in. The real irony and beclowning comes with the premise of the movie, which claims "scientists" who believe in intelligent design are being "expelled" from academia; their rights to free speech and free thinking shut down. You can read about the beclowning and subsequent hole digging, in more than enough detail, in the Wikipedia entry on Expelled the movie.

For other examples of beclowning, see this post on a mathematical moron and, of course, Miss (Teen) South Carolina.

(One other thing worth drawing a link to is that a serious beclowning event, more often than not, involves some kind of WTF? statement or claim.)

Words worth espousing - rocket surgery

Familiar with the expression: "It's not rocket science" or "It's not brain surgery"? Well, if you thought that was hard, try: "It's not rocket surgery". What could be harder than that? Combining these professions should obviously create an uber intellect!

Plus, with all the debate about which group is the smartest, rocket scientists or brain surgeons, this gives both equal credit. (Note, you could use "brain scientist" but this profession actually exists. Also, I stole the idea of "rocket surgery" from somewhere I can't remember. It might have been The Simpsons?) Interestingly, the American Association of Brain Surgeons published this study last year:

...entitled "The Intelligence of Rocket Scientists: Myth Versus Reality," ... [it] suggests that rocket scientists' reputation for smartness is largely undeserved.

"It does require a superior intellect to function as a rocket scientist," the article concedes. "Having said that, though, rocket science is not brain surgery."

Words worth espousing - the ohnosecond

And now for something completely different. The photograph to the left came to me via an email from my cobber Richard Carfirkin. Original lost in the mists of cyberspace so no attribution. I am putting it here as a graphic illustration of the place one finds oneself after experiencing the dreaded ohnosecond. "What is an ohnosecond?" (I hear you ask.)

From Whatis?com (which bills itself as "The leading IT encyclopedia and learning centre")

An ohnosecond is that very short moment in time during which you realize that you have pressed the wrong key and deleted hours, days, or weeks of work.

Another definition here:

The fraction of time it takes to realize you've just goofed; for example, right after you hit the send button on an e-mail and realize you forgot to include the attachment. Another great example is that moment of horror when you see the key in the ignition switch just as you're slamming the car door shut. This term was coined by Elizabeth Crowe in her book The Electronic Traveler.

Update: Silly me, google knows all, sees all. Origin of photograph here.

Words worth espousing - aaaahh!

Aaaahh! is the second alphabetic entry in A Lexicon of Cadet Language, Royal Military College, Duntroon in the period 1983-1985 (by Bruce Moore). Aaaahh! is defined as follows: "a cry expressive of the potentially disastrous consequences of activities such as mountain-climbing and parachuting".

I think we can all relate to that.

The great thing about a word such as this is that it doesn't have to be learned. It is simply uttered spontaneously under the right conditions. (Unlike "holy cow", "help", "sh** a brick", etc which have to be learned.)

As a member of the Corps of Staff Cadets in an earlier cohort, I should observe that there seems to have been a shift in pronunciation since my era. My recollection is that we screamed at greater length, thus: Aaaaaaarrrgh! (Note also the palatal fricative towards the end of the utterance.)

Words worth espousing - oenanist

I am currently writing an article for the Skeptic Journal wherein I coin a word which I hope gains some currency. I think the word is potentially a very happy marriage between an existing word (onanist), and the first syllable of a couple of words related to wine connoisseurship (oenophile and oenologist).

I apply the word to pretentious wannable wine connoisseurs who use a debased technical phraseology (presumably borrowed from wine labels, and/or wine judging and blind tasting events) in order to impress bystanders, friends and acquaintances.

So, next time you overhear someone claiming that the wine he or she has just tasted is a "cheeky little white, with a nose that suggests just a hint of sun-dried apples dipped in cognac", you can say "wow, very impressive, you must be an oenanist". The person will believe that you are complimenting him or her on his exquisite taste, whereas you are really summing him or her up as a wine wanker.

If you really don't wish to spare the person's feeling of course, you can simply call him or her a wine wanker in the first place and dispense with the neologism "oenanist "(as an unnecessary subterfuge).

Cacoethes - at the hairdresser maybe, but not at the dentist

Cacoethes - an urge to do something inadvisable. (OED). (See Words worth espousing for the first appearance of cacoethes in this blog.)

In my blogger profile I note that I am given to bizarre utterances. Coming out with bizarre utterances is just one of many ways in which I seek to build entertainment and enjoyment into an otherwise humdrum day.

For example, last week at the hairdressers, I stated that I had an unusual medical condition. I claimed that my hair follicles had pain receptors, and that from time to time, I might flinch from a minor spasm of pain when the hairdresser combed or cut my hair.

The tension was palpable, and all I had to do was draw a sharp intake of breath from time to time to entertain myself.

Fun, and relatively harmless. However I have to exercise great restraint when visiting the dentist. A cacoethes-driven urge to jump or yelp (to feign pain) while at the dentist could have unfortunate consequences, viz: (a) the dentist might be startled into a rash move and cause me an injury; and/or (b) the dentist might not believe me later if I experienced some genuine pain (c.f. The Boy who cried Wolf).

Words worth espousing - cacoethes

Had an email from "GG" who found us via Tim Blair, and had some nice things to say about humbugonline. But that's not important now (c.f. Leslie Nielsen in Spy Hard). The imporant thing is that GG offered me a gift: a word I have not heard before, but which will now become an essential part of my vocabulary. In the past, when I have said or done something inadvisable, I have claimed by way of mitigation that I have Tourette's Syndrome or that the Devil made me do it (respectively). Now I have one word which covers all such cases.

Cacoethes (OED) Noun - an urge to do something inadvisable.

Perfect! Thanks GG

Words worth espousing - "bumf"

Every morning at work I check my bumf hole? Some days I check it two or three times. Occasionally I ask a colleague to check it for me. Do you?

Bumf: That portion of the enormous mass of official correspondence which was used for a more undignified purpose than originally intended. Later applied more generally to correspondence and literature of little value.

This was an abbreviation of ‘bumfodder’ current from 1889 as schoolboys’ slang for ‘toilet paper’. In the war it was applied to official correspondence, most of which was viewed as unnecessary. It has acquired general currency for paperwork since World War I. Also spelt ‘bumph’.

Words worth espousing - cromulent

The excerpt below is taken from the entry on cromulent - to be found in a Wikipedia item on neologisms to be found on the Simpsons. I for one believe that cromulent is here to stay, and its use, whether with sincerity or irony (see below) is perfectly cromulent.

A word meaning valid or acceptable, coined by David X. Cohen for the Simpsons episode "Lisa the Iconoclast". When schoolteacher Edna Krabappel hears the Springfield town motto, "A noble spirit embiggens the smallest man," she comments she'd never heard of the word embiggens before moving to Springfield. Miss Hoover, another teacher, replies, "I don't know why; it's a perfectly cromulent word". Later in the same episode, while talking about Homer's audition for the role of town crier, Principal Skinner states "He's embiggened that role with his cromulent performance."

Based on the context in which Miss Hoover uses the word cromulent, we can interpret that she intends it to mean "legitimate", "applicable" or "appropriate." Principal Skinner seems to use it to mean "more than acceptable" or "more than adequate"; these usages would also (in an assumed lexical context) satisfy Miss Hoover's use of the word. Perhaps both characters intend it to mean "authentic", which would validate both uses of the word (e.g. "it's a perfectly authentic word" and "he embiggened that role with his authentic performance"). Lisa uses it later in that episode, when instead of telling the truth about Jebediah Springfield, she accepts that the myth and the made-up words have inspirational value. The word has a sort of recursive irony about it: as a made-up word it possesses none of the qualities that it describes.

Both "embiggen" and "cromulent" were quickly adopted and used by Simpsons fans. Cromulent has taken on an ironic meaning, to say that something is not at all legitimate and in fact spurious. Indeed the DVD commentary for "Lisa the Iconoclast" makes a point of reinforcing that "embiggen" and "cromulent" are completely made up by the writers and have since taken on a life of their own via the Internet and other media.

Words worth espousing - degage

This word is especially worth espousing because it is French word which is now officially (OED) also English. I love the idea of stealing French words and thus increasing the number and variety of English words ...and enhancing the precision of English vocabulary. It's particularly satisfying stealing words from the French - it is a nice double-whammy because the French are inclined to exclusionary paranoia about the spread and influence of English. So further diminishing French by stealing words seems to be an excellent response to their futile battle to ban words such as Le Weekend or Le computer. Degage means unconstrained, unconcerned, relaxed. I use it often during academic meetings when we are exhorted to redouble our efforts in order to become an outstanding institution. It is a good substitute for the Australian vernacular expression "I don't give a sh*t". It's a good substitute because it is both polite and mystifying. Especially when embedded in an actual French sentence, viz: "Je suis degage". The word has accents over both e's but I don't put them in because if one sets out to steal French words, I think it's best to remove such vestiges of degenerate French fripperies.

Words worth espousing - bloviate

In honour of Jef's Cartoon entry for the Rotary Cartoon Awards, my choice for a word worth espousing is dictionary dot com's Word of the Day for June 22, 2001 - "bloviate":

To discourse at length in a pompous or boastful manner.

The great thing about the word is that one is always using it ironically (intentionally or not). By definition, if you use the word "bloviate" in a discussion, no doubt you are in the middle of bloviation yourself. After all, people only use esoteric verbiage and discombobulating locutions in order to sound smarter than they really are.

I tend to find that I am more prone to bombastic oration rather than bloviation.

Words worth espousing - "babblatrice"

It distresses me beyond measure that I cannot recall where I first read or heard this word. Even a google search failed to turn up one instance. It is not my own coinage, but ever since I read it, or heard it, I use it often, and would like to think that it will one day gain currency. A babblatrice is of course a woman who talks a great deal without saying anything of worth. Very handy, and challenging to those who hate gender-specific words (another reason it should be vigorously espoused). Commenters who may know of its origins, please let me know and I will update this post with an attribution. Offended commenters might like to try coining an equally insulting word which could be used to denigrate babbling males (Chomsky is already taken - sorry!).

UPDATE: by the bye, one can have a lot of fun with the generation of gender-balancing words in the cause of political correctness. The best known of course is Woman-hole (or person-hole) to balance the orthodox and time-honoured man-hole. (I don't know what it is, but one can't say "woman-hole" with the same degree of insouciance as one can say "man-hole".) Another amusing one is the gender-neutral "fishers" to replace "fishermen". It's wonderful watching the facial contortions of TV presenters when they try to differentiate between "fishers" and "fishes" as they read a (politically correctly phrased) fish story. Did the fishes eat the fishes (the normal food chain); or did the fishers eat the fishes (what one would expect, unless the fishers sold the fishes to the fish-shop); or did the fishes eat the fishers (as in the movie Jaws - clearly this would be a big story in the "man bites dog" genre)? Or... did the fishers eat the fishers (cannibalism on the high seas - an even bigger story.)?

Words worth espousing - "backsters"

From time to time I will post here under a stem-heading "Words worth" (espousing). Not the poet Wordsworth you understand, but the notion. The notion that some words are worth preserving, honouring, espousing, resurrecting, promoting etc before they disappear altogether. Backsters are "wide, flat pieces of board, which are strapped on the feet, and used to walk over loose beach on the coasts of Kent and East Sussex..." (ref: The word museum, Jeffrey Kacirk). I intend to travel to Britain this (European) winter, with the intention of asking for some backsters in a sporting goods store in Kent. If the serving person is puzzled, I will express indignation that while such a perfectly good word has been preserved with complete fidelity in Australian English, it has been shamefully neglected in its original home.

Words worth espousing

Increase your vocabulary with these esoteric locutions:

• aaaahh!
• babblatrice
• backsters
• beclown
• bloviate
• bumf
• cacoethes
• cromulent
• degage
• discombobulate
• oenanist
• the ohnosecond
• quanked
• recondite
• rocket surgery
• trollop and strumpet
• vomitory