Difference between revisions of "Words"

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==Verbesserschlechterung==
 
==Verbesserschlechterung==
 
A improvement that makes things worse. The German word for "software update".
 
A improvement that makes things worse. The German word for "software update".
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==Verschlimmbessern==
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To make something worse while trying to improve it.
  
 
== ==
 
== ==

Latest revision as of 13:54, 3 December 2024

https://twitter.com/BrilliantMaps/status/1449114106200535041

Contents

commands

  <html> <img src= "http://rasmusen.org/EricRasmusen2007.jpg" height= 120 align= left> </html>

NEW WORDS NEEDED

  • I taught misrepresentation/fraud yesterday; and midway through our analysis of the famous case Vokes v. Arthur Murray dance studio, I realized that the gullible, pathetic, 2-left-footed widow in that case -- Audrey Vokes -- was younger than I am now. Confused

Replying to @ProfEricTalley

If I were the mainstream media, I would now report that Columbia University admits that it teaches misrepresentation and fraud.

(What is the word for that self-reflexive sentence?-someone who fraudulently accuses someone else of fraud? Useful term for Russiagate too.)

Academic Scaffolding

A scholarly backdrop to make an idea I believe in anyway look fancier than it is. In economics, we have an idea, and then we spend a year trying to construct a rational-actor math model of it, or trying to see if the data supports it. In our case, though, we reject the idea if we can't get rigor behind it.

Acrid

Unpleasantly sharp, pungent, or bitter.

Ad hominem

Yes...when JMac made a statement about the nature of the Son of God that was very, very off and he publicly acknowledged it before the entire world. Let's take a peak at your life and see what we can find. What are you hiding Dennis? Unbelievable. The level of hypocrisy is sick.

The sin of "Dennis Swanson" is a different subject, and not as interesting. There should be a name for this. "Ad hominem" doesn't quite fit. Nor "ad hominem libellum" Nor "ad hominem innuedum"More like "ad hominem conjecturum" But my grammar may be off.

Adiaphora

The plural of adiaphoron, a thing that exists outside of moral law, neither condemned nor approved by morality; “indifferent things,” neither right nor wrong, spiritually neutral.

Anscombe's Quartet

The Wikipedia article on it.



Antifaschistischer Schutzwall

"Anti-fascist protection dike" or "rampart", the Berlin Wall's official name in East Germany. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin_Wall


==Apophenia==Apophenia is the tendency to perceive meaningful connections between unrelated things.

Apparatchicks, Apparatjocks

"The apparatchiks and apparatjocks of National Public Radio."

Arcsine(x)

In the unit circle, "the arc whose sine is x" is the same as "the angle whose sine is x", because the length of the arc of the circle is a measure of the angle. In Mexico the functions was also called angsin, meaning "angle whose sine is..." https://math.stackexchange.com/questions/33175/etymology-of-arccos-arcsin-arctan

Argumentum ad Verecundiam

The fallacy of argument from inappropriate authority: an appeal to the testimony of an authority outside of the authority's special field of expertise. https://philosophy.lander.edu/logic/authority.html

Baizhuo

WIKIPEDIA: Baizuo (/ˈbaɪˌdzwɔː/, /baɪˈzwoʊ/; Chinese: 白左; pinyin: báizuǒ, Mandarin pronunciation: [pǎi.tswò], literally White Left)[1][2] is a Chinese neologism and political epithet used to refer to Western leftist ideologies primarily espoused by white leftists.[3] The term baizuo is related to the term shèngmǔ (圣母, 聖母, literally "Blessed Mother") or shèngmǔbiǎo (圣母婊, 聖母婊, literally "Blessed Mother of Bitch"), a sarcastic reference to those whose political opinions are perceived as being guided by emotions or a hypocritical show of selflessness and empathy.

The term baizuo was apparently coined in a 2010 article published on Renren Network by user Li Shuo, entitled The Fake Morality of the Western White Left and the Chinese Patriotic Scientists (西方白左和中国爱国科学家的伪道德), initially used as a general critique of certain socialist values in the American left.[3] No further use of the term is known until 2013, where on Chinese forum Zhihu through 2013–2015, the term evolved to criticize some people among the left who seemingly advocate for positive slogans like peace and equality to boast their sense of moral superiority, but are ignorant of real-world consequences, and utilize destructive behavior like political sacrifice and identity politics.

Substantial use in Chinese Internet culture began in early 2016, at first at MIT BBS, a bulletin board system used by many Chinese in the U.S., during the 2016 United States presidential election.

Beautilicious

Bug-Man

Synonym for Nietzsche's Last Man of Zarathustra, probably derived from "Bourgeois Man". "The Bugmen, to stay with BAP, are the “pretentious bureaucrats” who harbor “titanic hatred of the well-turned out and beautiful.” They believe in “social justice” and “first-world regimented hygiene”" from the Bronze Age Pervert via the New Republic 2023 article on the Claremont Institute.

Bushing

Wikipedia:"A bushing or rubber bushing is a type of vibration isolator. It provides an interface between two parts, damping the energy transmitted through the bushing. A common application is in vehicle suspension systems, where a bushing made of rubber (or, more often, synthetic rubber or polyurethane) separates the faces of two metal objects while allowing a certain amount of movement."

Cadence

From Wiktionary:

1. The act or state of declining or sinking.
2. Balanced, rhythmic flow.
3. The measure or beat of movement.
4. The general inflection or modulation of the voice, or of any sound.
5. (music) A progression of at least two chords which conclude a piece of music, section or musical phrases within it. Sometimes referred to analogously as musical punctuation.
6. (music) A cadenza, or closing embellishment; a pause before the end of a strain, which the performer may fill with a flight of fancy.
7. (speech) A fall in inflection of a speaker’s voice, such as at the end of a sentence.

Camel case

A variable-naming style that separates the parts of a name with capitals, as in FirstSecondThird. See also: pothole case, kebab case.

Chesterton's Fence

“In the matter of reforming things, as distinct from deforming them, there is one plain and simple principle; a principle which will probably be called a paradox. There exists in such a case a certain institution or law; let us say, for the sake of simplicity, a fence or gate erected across a road. The more modern type of reformer goes gaily up to it and says, ‘I don’t see the use of this; let us clear it away.’ To which the more intelligent type of reformer will do well to answer: “If you don’t see the use of it, I certainly won’t let you clear it away. Go away and think. Then, when you can come back and tell me that you do see the use of it, I may allow you to destroy it.”

Chesterton is not alone in the observation. It is found throughout our literature and theatre. In Robert Bolt’s “A Man for All Seasons” Sir Thomas More uses a similar argument to famously challenge his reformist son-in-law. The poet Robert Frost comes to the same conclusion in “Mending Wall.” Scripture is replete with its warning, beginning in Proverbs 22:28, “Do not move an ancient boundary stone that your fathers have placed.”

--"Chesterton's Fence"

Combatativeness

"Combativeness" is a word. So is "combatative".. : Is "combatativeness" an existing word? Should it be? Is it better than "combativeness"?

CHYMPS

CHYMPS is the acronym for the top political science PhD programs in the United States. It is the political science PhD equivalent to HYS (Harvard, Yale, Stanford) for law schools and HSW (Harvard, Stanford, Wharton) for business schools. CHYMPS stands for:

Cal-Berkeley
Harvard
Yale
Michigan
Princeton
Stanford.

image of network

The acronym was originally Hypes-Bomb (Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, Berkeley, MIT) as a shorthand for the top political science departments (perhaps pejorative, as in overhyped but famous political science schools).

Hypes-Bomb then morphed to CHYMPS since it’s catchier.

CHYMPS then became the updated HYP as an acronym for the most prestigious schools in the US generally (see Urban Dictionary entry from 2009), though it’s causing some confusion among Columbia, Cornell, Caltech, and University of Chicago fans who feel that “C” should stand for them, not Cal-Berkeley (just a bias against public schools IMO, since Cal is clearly superior to the other “C” schools, at least at the graduate level).
--https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-origin-of-the-CHYMPS-Cal-Berkeley-Harvard-Yale-MIT-Princeton-and-Stanford

Contradictorily

"In selling stock, the filer is not contradictorily asserting it is solvent; the *buyers* are saying that."

Coolitude

The property of being "cool". A neologism.

Coviderati

The people who designed and promoted America's covid epidemic policy in 2021-- the lockdowns, masks, vaccines for children, and so forth. I saw Jay Bhattacharya use this in a 2023 tweet at https://twitter.com/DrJBhattacharya/status/1650268566036574208.

Crazytown

"I feel like I'm in crazytown when I express distress about taxation - literally people forcibly taking away your property - and ppl act like I'm the crazy one." A tweet (2021).

Curtilage

Legal. An area of land attached to a house and forming one enclosure with it.

Damnatio memoriae

Joshua Katz: "I’ve “been disappeared.” The standard name for this is damnatio memoriae, Latin for “condemnation of memory”.


Deificatio

"Deificatio hominis" or just "deificatio" is the Latin term used in theology for the idea of a man trying to become more like God. It might be exactly the same idea as "sanctification"; I'm not sure. Often people say "deification", which is bad terminology. It already has a main meaning, and that main meaning is completely different, almost opposite, since it is to make something into an idol, treating it as God. The idea here is not to set yourself up falsely as God, but to make yourself slightly more like God and diminish your own contrary will. The Greek term “Theosis” is better, maybe; I don’t grasp the Eastern Orthodox concept very well. “Sanctification” is good. “Divinization” is okay, but sounds too much like “divining”, as in fortune-telling.

Degringolade

A rapid decline or deterioration in a situation.

Derangement

From Twitter: "A permutation that leaves no element in-place is called a 'derangement'."

Devolution

Devolution can mean either the reverse of evolution or the devolving of power, two quite distinct meanings.


Doctrine of Double Effect

"The doctrine (or principle) of double effect is often invoked to explain the permissibility of an action that causes a serious harm, such as the death of a human being, as a side effect of promoting some good end. According to the principle of double effect, sometimes it is permissible to cause a harm as a side effect (or “double effect”) of bringing about a good result even though it would not be permissible to cause such a harm as a means to bringing about the same good end." "Doctrine of Double Effect," Stanford dictionary.

Doublethink

"Doublethink means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one’s mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them.” Orwell, 1984.

Drafty Version of a Paper

“Very drafty version”: I like that, and will use it myself. You eventually will insulate it from criticism. "Tilly Goes to Church: The Religious and Medieval Roots of State Formation in Europe, " Anna Grzymala-Busse, Stanford University, August 31, 2020.

Enantiomer

"Enantiomers, also known as optical isomers, are two stereoisomers that are related to each other by a reflection: they are mirror images of each other that are non-superposable. Human hands are a macroscopic analog of this." --"Steroisomerism," Wikipedia.

Enunciative and Enunciatory

I think these mean "enunciating well", but I haven't been able to find out, googling.

Epiphany

One meaning in Greek of ἐπιφάνεια is, from Liddel-Scott-Jones, " in war, sudden appearance of an enemy, Aen.Tact. 31.8, Plb. 1.54.2, Ascl. Tact. 12.10(pl.), Onos. 22.3 (pl.)."


Epsilontik

"Epsilontik" is the precise development of analysis, differential geometry, and topology using epsilon-neighborhoods in the style of Weierstrass. From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Johannes_Thomae.

The Fallacy of Equivocation

Using a term with one meaning in the premise, and another in the conclusion. From Professorsykes.com:
“Noisy children are a real pain. Two aspirin will make any pain go away. Therefore, two aspirin will make noisy children go away.”

Erdocity

The nearness of relationship between two people or things, after mathematician Paul Erdos. He has Erdos Number 0; his co-author has 1; his co-author's author 2;...Eric Rasmusen, 5 (3 ways: Connell-Farb-Lubotzky-Alon-Erdos, Janssen-Sierksma-Doignon-Fishburn-Erdos, and Ayres-Rowat-Beardon-Lehner-Erdos). Like 7 Degrees of Kevin Bacon. It applies broadly; e.g. how distant I am in relationship of having conversed with economists who've conversed with historians who've conversed with journalists. The word is original with me, I think. I would pronounce it "erdossity" rather than "erdoshity", despite Erdos being Hungarian.

Eructation

A belch. A violent bursting forth or ejection of matter from the earth.

Exvangelical

An ex-evangelical; in particular, not a convert to  Romanism   or Eastern Orthodoxy, but someone who used to be  part of conservative Protestantism but then started to attack it.

Fiat Abuse

A debate team term. "Fiat abuse is where you try to prevent debate not only on whether you could actually enact a policy (that's what you can "fiat" into existence) but also the policy's workability. So, if you were debating Communism, you might be able to fiat a Communist revolution- "if the workers revolted, would it be good", but you can't fiat the moneyed classes giving up all their private property voluntarily. One of the problems with Communism is they'd resist!" Dilan Esper @dilanesper

Fissiparous

Inclined to cause or undergo division into separate parts or groups."she was unsuccessful in holding a fissiparous membership together"

Flatus

Gas generated in or expelled from the digestive tract, especially the stomach or intestines.

The Flypaper Effect

"The flypaper effect is a concept from the field of public finance that suggests that a government grant to a recipient municipality increases the level of local public spending more than an increase in local income of an equivalent size. When a dollar of exogenous grants to a community leads to significantly greater public spending than an equivalent dollar of citizen income: money sticks where it hits, like a fly to flypaper. Grants to the government will stay in the hands of the government and income to individuals will stay with these individuals." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flypaper_effect

Freudenschade

Sorrow over someone's success. The counterpart to Schadenfreude (joy over someone's loss).

Fugacity

1. The noun for being fleeting, evanescent.
2. A coefficient for a real-world gas which makes the ideal gas equation be true. The fugacity of an ideal gas is 1. The fugacity of real-world gases is between 0 and 1, e.g. the fugacity of nitrogen is about .93.
This came up in Ben's Thermodynamics class.
I would like there to be the word "Fugacitaceous" too, for the sound of it, but that's a neologism.

Gasket

A shaped piece or ring of rubber or other material sealing the junction between two surfaces in an engine or other device.

Googleability or Googlability

A measure of how easy it is to find information about a person on the Web. Which spelling is better?

Gluckschmerz

Pain at seeing someone else's good fortune, analogous to Schadenfreude. But it's fake German. See this twitter thread.

Haredi

"Haredi is a Modern Hebrew adjective derived from the Biblical verb hared, which appears in the Book of Isaiah (66:2; its plural haredim appears in Isaiah 66:5)[27] and is translated as "one who trembles" at the word of God. The word connotes an awe-inspired fear to perform the will of God."

The Javert Paradox

The Javert Paradox: Suppose you find a problem with published work. If you just point it out once or twice, the authors of the work are likely to do nothing. But if you really pursue the problem, then you look like a Javert.

-- Andrew Gelman

Kairos.

καιρός. "a passing instant when an opening appears which must be driven through with force if success is to be achieved."

{{{1}}}

Katz

Short for "Kohen Tzedeq ("priest of justice"/"authentic priest") or Kohen Tzadok (meaning the name-bearer is of patrilineal descent of the Kohanim sons of Zadok)", Wikipedia says.


Kebab case

A variable-naming style that separates the parts of a name with dashes, as in first-second-third. See also: camel case, pothole case.

Kofferbuch

A book that one takes along on a trip with the intention of reading but is never actually read.

LIMERENCE

The state of being in love. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limerence

Lunate epsilon

The lunate epsilon (tex: $\epsilon$) is the moon-shaped one that I like to use for something very small because it looks smaller. The "reverse-3" form is the uglier squiggly one that has the advantage of one-stroke cursive writing on the blackboard. See the Wikipedia entry.

To Lustrate

To purify by expiatory sacrifice, ceremonial washing, or some other ritual action. "a soul lustrated in the baptismal waters"

Malum in se

I've long been frustrated that the opposite of malum in se is malum in prohibitum, which is not audibly parallel. I'd very much like malum in lex, but it's ungrammatrical. It would have to be malum in lege, ablative case. But how about "malum in legibus"? "Bad in the laws"? That has a nice-sounding consonant "s" at the end, even though "x" ("ks") would be even better.


Menschlichkeit

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Menschlichkeit The quality of humanness (the condition or quality of being human). Related to the Yiddish Mensch ("What a stand-up guy! He is a real mensch.")

Meomarxism

The vulgar marxism of circa 2020 that is based on the oppressor/oppressed dichotomy and identity politics. In adult Sunday school today, I figured out this word for the wokesters, wokies, wokers, neo-marxists: Meomarxists. It's all about me showing I'm not an oppressor, and that I'm one of the oppressed (though this is tough if you're a straight white male, even if you're effeminate).

This is a better word than "identomarxism", another coinage of mine. The word "meowmarkism" is also inferior.

Merism

DbPedia [1] says, "Merism (Latin: merismus, Greek: μερισμός, translit. merismós) is a rhetorical device (or figure of speech) in which a combination of two contrasting parts of the whole refer to the whole. For example, in order to say that someone "searched everywhere", one could use the merism "searched high and low"." See also [2] Thoughtco on merism.

Midwit

"Someone who is around average intelligence but is so opinionated and full of themselves that they think they're some kind of genius. They overlap with pseuds."

Misnagdim

"Misnagdim ((מתנגדים‎,"Opponents"; a religious movement among the Jews of Eastern Europe which resisted the rise of Hasidism in the 18th and 19th centuries. The Misnagdim were particularly concentrated in Lithuania, where Vilnius served as the bastion of the movement, but anti-Hasidic activity was undertaken by the establishment in many locales. The most severe clashes between the factions took place in the latter third of the 18th century; the failure to contain Hasidism led the Misnagdim to develop distinct religious philosophies and communal institutions, which were not merely a perpetuation of the old status quo but often innovative. The most notable results of these efforts, pioneered by Chaim of Volozhin and continued by his disciples, were the modern, independent yeshiva and the Musar movement. Since the late 19th century, tensions with the Hasidim largely subsided, and the heirs of Misnagdim adopted the epithet Litvishe or Litvaks."

Mizrahim

  • Mizrahim is a term coined with the creation of the State of Israel. It means "Easterner" in Hebrew and refers to Oriental Jews or descendants of Jewish communities from the Middle East and North Africa.


Mnemonic

Mnemonic (plural mnemonics): Anything (especially in verbal form) used to help remember something.

How do you spell mnemonic?
It's practically demonic.
You put an M before the N;
And then it's just phenomic.

Mokita

"Mokita is a Papua New Guinean term for something that everyone knows but no one talks about." https://twitter.com/charlesmurray/status/1439993770519445508?s=03.
"Earl Hunt, the eminent psychometrician, invoked that word in his review of TBC many, many years ago."--Charles Murray, https://twitter.com/charlesmurray/status/1439993770519445508?s=03.

Neuronormal, Neurotypical

I realize I'm a Neurotypical (or am I?). It makes me sound very powerful, or even scary. A useful word. Neuronormal might be better though.


Nuisance parameter

A nuisance parameter is any parameter which is not of immediate interest but must be accounted for in the analysis of the parameter of interest. The classic example is the variance of distribution when the mean is of primary interest. Wikipedia's article.

Overmorrow

The day after tomorrow, an old English word. Ubermorgen in German.

Obrazovanshchina

"Obrazovanshchina (Russian: образованщина, 'educationdom', 'educaties',[1] 'smatterers') is a Russian ironical, derogatory term for a category of people with superficial education who lack the higher ethics of an educated person.[2] The term was introduced by Alexander Solzhenitsyn in his 1974 essay "Obrazovanshchina" (translated as "The Smatterers") as a criticism of the transformation of the Russian intelligentsia, which, in his opinion had lost high ethical values." https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obrazovanshchina

On the Record

AP's guidelines for "Off the record", "Background" and "Deep Background" Published 2011-08-01

Not everyone understands “off the record” or “on background” to mean the same things. Before any interview in which any degree of anonymity is expected, there should be a discussion in which the ground rules are set explicitly. These are the AP’s definitions:

On the record: The information can be used with no caveats, quoting the source by name.

Off the record: The information cannot be used for publication.

Background: The information can be published but only under conditions negotiated with the source. Generally, the sources do not want their names published but will agree to a description of their position. AP reporters should object vigorously when a source wants to brief a group of reporters on background and try to persuade the source to put the briefing on the record. These background briefings have become routine in many venues, especially with government officials.

Deep background: The information can be used but without attribution. The source does not want to be identified in any way, even on condition of anonymity. https://blog.chrislkeller.com/aps-guidelines-for-off-the-record-background/

Overfeatures

I'd like to popularize the word "overfeatured" to mean software, cars, or any other product that has too many bells and whistles. These can either actively degrade usability, or make it too hard to figure out simple uses.

Palooka

"Palooka is a classic term for an inexperienced or incompetent boxer, one who has no business being in the ring. More broadly, it can mean any oaf or lout."

Panache





Per curiam

A way for a court to sign a judicial opinion. "Traditionally, the per curiam was used to signal that a case was uncontroversial, obvious, and did not require a substantial opinion... These early opinions often comprised only a sentence or two, rarely more than a paragraph, and never displayed disagreement among the Justices. Beginning in 1909 with Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, whose strongly worded separate opinions earned him the moniker "the Great Dissenter," per curiam opinions began to feature dissents... The per curiam not only allowed the Court to quickly adjudicate these more substantive cases but also to signify to the public that the issues in them were easily resolved and required little explanation." "Hiding Behind the Cloak of Invisibility: The Supreme Court and Per Curiam Opinions," Ira Robbins (2012).

Pistarckle

Richard Brookhiser: "Virgin Islands slang, meaning uproar, confusion. I encountered the word years ago in the USVI and have been using it ever since."

Persiflage

Light and slightly contemptuous mockery or banter.

Pothole case

A variable-naming style that separates the parts of a name with underscores, as in first_second_third. See also: camel case, kebab case.

Plaque

1. an ornamental tablet, 2. A sticky bacterial deposit on teeth.

Prevenient Grace

"Free will is unable to begin or to perfect any true and spiritual good, without grace. …This grace [prævenit] goes before, accompanies, and follows; it excites, assists, operates that we will, and co operates lest we will in vain." Arminius "Grace and Free Will"

Procatalepsis

  Procatalepsis is the rhetorical device of raising objections to your own argument and then answering them, thus forestalling your opponent.

Pronunciamento

A pronunciamiento (Spanish: [pɾonunθjaˈmjento], Portuguese: pronunciamento [pɾunũsiɐˈmẽtu]; "proclamation , announcement or declaration") is a form of military rebellion or coup d'état particularly associated with Spain, Portugal and Latin America, especially in the 19th century.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pronunciamiento

Propaganda Press

The media outlets that parrot the regime's propaganda, e.g., The New York Times, The Washington Post, MSNBC, CNN. This term is better than "mainstream media" or "corporate media" or "legacy media" or "fake news" or "establishment media" or "regime media".

Proptreptic

Writing that is aimed at conversion, changing the path of the reader.

"Collins defines protreptic as conversion, since the exhortatory movement implied in the verb προτρέπω (‘urge on, impel’) is often—or, more radically, always—linked to the abandoning of previous opinions and ways of life (apotreptic, cf. ἀποτρέπω, ‘turn away from’). However, it soon becomes clear that the author aims at a broader examination of ancient and modern genre theory in order to highlight the versatility of protreptic at its beginning. Collins sets out four characteristics of protreptic (17-18). According to him protreptic is: (a) dialogic, in the sense that it ‘always contains the voices of its competition’; (b) agonistic; (c) situational; and (d) rhetorical." ("Exhortations to Philosophy: The Protreptics of Plato, Isocrates, and Aristotle" review)

Psephology

The statistical study of elections and voting.

Pseudo-Wiki

A website that looks like a wiki and uses wiki software, but is written by one or a very limited set of people. This website, Rasmapedia, is an example.

PUMP AND DUMP

1. The stock manipulation trick of using rumor or purchase to inflate a stock's purchase and then selling it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pump_and_dump. 2. The political dirty trick of getting a crowd so excited that it charges off to wreck a building or kill someone, so it gets in trouble and discredits the movement, and then quietly leaving before the arrests and shooting. 3. A Full Service Company Offering Residential & Commercial Septic Services. https://www.pumpndumpusa.com/.

RAREBIT

Ambrose Bierce (1911): "Rarebit n. A Welsh rabbit, in the speech of the humorless, who point out that it is not a rabbit. To whom it may be solemnly explained that the comestible known as toad in the hole is really not a toad, and that ris de veau à la financière is not the smile of a calf prepared after the recipe of a she banker."

Selectorate

British English:"a body of people responsible for making a selection, esp members of a political party who select candidates for an election."

Semble

Legal phrase meaning "see the following case, but it's just in dictum or some other loose relevance". Italicized, because it's from law French, il semble, "it seems". Discussed at length on Twitter in 2023 after the Harvard decision on Asians having bad personalities.

Shekhina

From Wikipedia:

"Shekhinah, also spelled Shechinah (Hebrew: שְׁכִינָה Šəḵīnā, Tiberian: Šăḵīnā) is the English transliteration of a Hebrew word meaning "dwelling" or "settling" and denotes the presence of God, as it were, in a place. This concept is found in Judaism.
The Hebrew Bible mentions several places where the presence of God was felt and experienced as a Shekhinah, including the burning bush and the cloud that rested on Mount Sinai. The Shekhinah was often pictured as a cloud or as a pillar of fire and was referred to as the glory of God. The Shekhinah was also understood to be present in the Tabernacle and the Temple in Jerusalem, and to be seated at the right hand of God.
The word shekhinah is not found in the Bible. It appears in the Mishnah, the Talmud, and in midrash. . . .
The Talmud states that
"the Shekhinah rests on man neither through gloom, nor through sloth, nor through frivolity, nor through levity, nor through talk, nor through idle chatter, but only through a matter of joy in connection with a mitzvah.""

Spitster

A double-cup invention for eating sunflower seeds, peanuts, or pistachios. https://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/3/prweb9254850.htm

Steelmanning

Presenting one's opponent's arguments as well as possible, even if that's not the way they presented them. Chicago's Professor Will Baude says, "Indeed, I now sometimes test a version of this skill on my exams, asking students to write up both sides of an argument, with the rule that their grade will be based on the quality of the worse of the two arguments."

Traumata

An alternative to "traumas" as a plural for "trauma".

The Unpronounceable Case

Uzuegbunam v. Preczewski, US Supreme Court (2020) may supplant whatever case has traditionally held this title.


Unterschlepper

Neologism from "schlepper". {{Quotation| From Yiddish שלעפּן (“to drag”); from High German schleppen (“to drag”)– “to carry”-
1) a servant who carries things
2) a porter
3) a pejorative insult for an individual who wanders aimlessly
4) One who acts in a slovenly, lazy, or sloppy manner. Kind of like the modern idiom of “slacker”.

Synonyms in academia are "assistant dean", "deanlet" and "deanlette".

Urdummheit

From the novel Amigos: the word urdummheit. It means something like "great stupidity", "stupidityat its very origins". https://thesaurasize.com/Urdummheit was being tricked by someone.

Vatic

Describing or predicting what will happen in the future.

Valley of the Clueles: Das Tal der Ahnungslosen

The valley in East Germany that could not be reached by Voice of America radio. "regions in the northeast to Greifswald and in the southeast of the GDR in the former district of Dresden... about 15 % of the population of the GDR...The term is now used for local communities or areas in Germany with missing or poorly developed broadband Internet access," from Tal der Ahnungslosen.

Verbesserschlechterung

A improvement that makes things worse. The German word for "software update".

Verschlimmbessern

To make something worse while trying to improve it.

Wokeschaltung

The Woke pressure to bring everything in society into conformity or else crush it, by analogy to the Nazi gleichschaltung. Perhaps coined by Curtis Yarvin in "Big tech has no power at all: The basics of tech censorship and the structure of the cathedral," (2021).

Zornhau

A zornhau (wrath hew) is the diagonal cut sword cut from shoulder to opposite waist known as "kesa-giri" in Japan. It is said to be historically the most effective at killing people. See https://allthetropes.fandom.com/wiki/Diagonal_Cut and https://danielagnewauthor.com/2017/04/27/the-zornhau-ort-its-simpler-than-you-think/.

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