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!"

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?

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.

on a somewhat lighter note (what wouldn't be), I have:

phrontifugic - relieving the anxiety of Deep Thought

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

tsuwm>phrontifugic - relieving the anxiety of Deep Thought

And 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

>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.

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.

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)

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.

May I give you a hug, Max Q? I love what you have started. The contributions so far from SHANKS, WOW,TSUM, SOSHANNAH and WWH are all so copacetic.

chronist