Category: Language Matters
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Asinine Leftist Verbiage
An incomplete list, and not necessarily in order of inanity, insanity, or asininity. I will leave it as an exercise for the reader to explain the various ways in which the following offend against clear thought or are otherwise objectionable. Diversity is our strength. That's not who we are. We are all immigrants. Comprehensive immigration…
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Word of the Day: Obvelation
A concealing, concealment, hiding, veiling. Antonym: revelation. My example: Her selective self-revelation was as much an intended obvelation. Example from Stewart Umphrey, Complexity and Analysis, Lexington Books, 2002, 140: Since divine revelation is never without obvelation, those bound back to God in inquiry need a hermeneutics to distinguish what belongs to Him from what belongs…
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The Meaning of ‘Asshole’
The author offers a cognitivist as opposed to expressivist analysis of 'asshole' and other foul words. But the guy is a 'liberal,' as witness the following bit of squeamishness: (2) pejorative terms, which assume false normative or moral claims about certain independently identifiable groups of people (e.g., "honkey”, "wop”, "kike”, “limey”, "chink”, "n—-r"); He refuses to write out…
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Hanged and Hung
A man is hanged; his coat is hung.
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In Vino Veritas
Literally, "in wine, (there is) truth." But the sentence does not bear its meaning on its semantic sleeve. What the familiar Latin saying is used to express, by those who use it correctly, is the thought that a person under the influence of alcohol is less likely to dissemble and more likely to speak his…
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Word of the Day: Psephology
Merriam-Webster: "the scientific study of elections." "Psephology is from the Greek word psēphos, meaning 'pebble.'" Necro-psephology is a growing field of inquiry in the Chicago area. For in those precincts there is a sizable turnout at elections of the dearly departed. If you have a large vocabulary you will love my blog; if you don't, you…
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Define or Drop
For leftists, words are weapons. If you are a lefty, and you disagree, then I invite you to define 'fascist,' 'racist,' 'white supremacist,' and the rest of the epithets in your arsenal. Define 'em or drop 'em. Show us that you are people of good will. Suppose I point out the incompatibility of Sharia with…
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The Orwellian Left and Abortion
For leftists, words are weapons. Nothing new here. If you have been paying attention, however, you will have noticed that their weaponization of language is becoming increasingly Orwellian. Case in point: OPPOSITION to abortion is now 'racist.' 'Racist' has long been a verbal cudgel in the hands (mouths?) of leftists, elastic in its meaning, but…
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Of ‘Pussy’ and ‘Pusillanimous’ and Politics
A friend of mine recently maintained with a straight face that 'pusillanimous' derives from 'pussy.' As an etymological claim that is of course preposterous. But there are two questions here that we ought to distinguish. The first is whether 'pusillanimous' has roughly the same meaning as 'pussy' when the latter is used as it is…
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‘Expressive Individualism’ is Becoming a Buzz Word
Or rather a buzz phrase. What does it mean, and where is it from? Where [Alasdair] MacIntyre used the term emotivism to name our moral predicament, in their classic 1985 study of American society, Habits of the Heart, the sociologist Robert Bellah and his co-writers identified two powerful strands of American thought that in some…
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A Clutter Quotation Attributed to Einstein
“If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, of what, then, is an empty desk a sign?” Quote Investigator turned up nothing with respect to the above. Beware of all attributions, especially those to the great physicist. But the thought's the thing regardless of who said it or wrote it. Related: Misattributed…
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Orwellianism of the Day
"Abortion is health care." I didn't make that up. It is from a protester's sign.
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Make Orwell Fiction Again
This from Nancy Pelosi's website (emphasis added): The Affordable Care Act, signed into law by President Obama in 2010, ensures that all Americans have access to quality, affordable health care and significantly reduces long-term health care costs. This historic legislation, in the league of Social Security and Medicare, will lead to healthier lives, while providing the American…
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The Dictionary Fallacy
Here, at Maverick Philosopher: Strictly Philosophical
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Amphiboly of the Day: ‘Pretty Bad Girls’
An amphiboly is a syntactic ambiguity. Are they pretty and bad, or pretty bad?