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OP I puzzled over today's "Word of the Day"
http://wordsmith.org/words/misology.html
misology (mi-SOL-uh-jee) noun
Hatred of logic or reason.
[From Greek miso- (hate) + -logy (science, study).]
This seems like an odd construction.
If "Biology" means "study of life" and "anthropology" means "study of humans" then wouldn't "misology" mean "Study of hatred"?
Digging in the dictionary I find there is precedent for the construction in words such as 'misogyny' (hatred of women), 'misanthropy' (hatred of humankind). These date back to the 17th century; wheras the various fields of study ending in "+ ology" date to the 19th century. So if precedence matters, then maybe the various fields of study should be renamed in the name of logic?
But I doubt the world will reorganize itself just to avoid conflict between 17th and 19th century words.
If I may offer a neologism, perhaps a less confusing word would be "misosophy" ? (Hatred of knowledge/wisdom?) And a willfully ignorant person would be a "misosophist?"
Wellcome, and I have an urgent question about today's word's context-part. No answer to your post, Fritz, but a problem to add:
"Your coyness smacks of misology. "
I have looked up this little phrase word by word and I can't see the meaning of it. Could would someone explain the meaning of this phrase?
How do you say this in plain English?
'Your coyness smacks of misology. Sinking back down to that dark place within yourself, the one that you tried so desperately to suffocate.'
in this context, coyness smacks of diffidence or lacking assertiveness -- as though distrusting or even fearing reason.
One would think it was coined in contrast to philology. which does not mean 'study of love' but rather 'love of learning', but the word exists in Classical Greek (in Plato): misologia 'hatred of argument/dialectic/reasoning' from misologos 'hating argument/dialectic/reasoning' and was borrowed into English with a slight change of meaning.
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
Smacks of = hints at; makes one think that... .
Good point, Fritz, and welcome aBoard. And thanks, zmjezhd.
To make a tortured analogy , the study of a few domesticated dogs won't tell you everything you need to know about wolves.
OP LMAO at Myridon. Point well taken.
Thank you Zmjezhd. That was very helpful.
I clearly need a deeper-rooted dictionary.
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