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Once upon a long ago, a (very) wise man said part of my quixotic campaign is to (re)introduce potentially useful (albeit currently worthless) words. Inspired by a very dipsetic dinner of KFC, I beseech the sage to, "give us another one, luv!"
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Carpal Tunnel
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well max, here's one that's very rare but that has been echoing reboant in the shadows of my mind of late -- and it is late.
alethiology - the doctrine of truth; that part of logic which treats of truth
the absence of this exacerbates the agita of us all.
-tsuwm
p.s. - you been keeping notes?
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alethiology
Pilate to Jesus: "What is truth?"
Frankie the mouse to Arthur Dent: "Well, I mean, yes idealism, yes the dignity of pure research, yes the pursuit of truth in all its forms, but there comes a point I'm afraid where you begin to suspect that if there's any real truth, it's that the entire multi-dimensional infinity of the Universe is almost certainly being run by a bunch of maniacs. And if it comes to a choice between spending yet another ten million years finding that out, and on the other hand just taking the money and running, then I for one could do with the exercise"
Thanks, tsuwm. I have not been taking notes, but dipsetic was such a gem, and so undeserving of the label "useless" that I was confident there must be many more where it came from.
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Carpal Tunnel
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on a somewhat lighter note (what wouldn't be), I have: phrontifugic - relieving the anxiety of Deep Thought
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Dear Tsuwm, From whence are you unearthing these? Alethiology I couldn't find via Atomica or SOED-CD but admit to a short search. Found phrontisterion in SOED. Wonderful words. One of my old favorites is diaphone - a foghorn with a low pitched, penetrating sound. But then, I live by the ocean. wow
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tsuwm>phrontifugic - relieving the anxiety of Deep ThoughtAnd just HOW (other than reading my posts) did you know how much I needed not only that word, but also the idea! Thanks, tsuwm, for thinking of me with such a useful word! Shoshannah
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>Re:echoing reboant Isn't that close to tautology?
bill, the implication is that it isn't natural, it only resembles an echo (like reverb in a car), which is to say that it's mostly annoying.
...glad to see *someone's paying attention.
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old hand
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old hand
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alethiology - the doctrine of truth; that part of logic which treats of truth
Pullman, in the His Dark Materials trilogy, introduces an 'alethiometer', a truth detector. I recommend the books highly (though sadly they may not be available in the US) - even over Harry Potter. (Yes, they are, notionally, for younger readers..... yah, boo, sucks!)
cheer
the sunshine warrior
The only obscure word I know (and it's obscure only because most dictionaries don't have it) is Robinsonade.
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shanks, as noncoincidence would have it, I came to discover alethiology from reading the first volume of Pullman's aforementioned trilogy -- at the insistence of my daughter (who, alas, still prefers HP) -- and subsequent recourse to the OED. (and therein, wow, lies the tale of how I unearthed *one of these words)
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That's what the world needs an alethiometer. But impossible to build, because it would instantly blow its fuse when confronted with the torrent of lies and half truths of today's world.
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