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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
The theory that inanimate objects demonstrate hostile behavior against us.
I love it! Does anyone here subscribe to this?
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
I remember an essay back in early thirties entitled
"The malice of objects". Example given, the infallible ability of a dropped collarbutton to find an invisible
restingplace.
I wonder if anybody drops collarbuttons these days.
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Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 10,562 Likes: 1
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 10,562 Likes: 1 |
I agree - "resistentialism" is not exactly a modern coinage!
Fifty-plus years ago my mother was using that word, which she defined as "the inherent perversity of inanimate matter." I suspect a common source. Though not well-educated,* she read voraciously and was extremely well-informed.
The paradigm was "Bread always falls butter-side down."
*Edit: Let me rephrase that. She had little formal higher education, going to work in the late 1920's after completing high school. She was nevertheless _very_ well-educated.
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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542 |
I used this word as a wwftd not long ago; the OED citations I quoted were from Jennings himself, which put a date on the coinage:
"Resistentialism is a philosophy of tragic grandeur...
Resistentialism is the philosophy of what Things
think about us."
- P. Jennings, The Spectator 23 Apr. 1948
"Things are against us. This is the nearest English
translation I can find for the basic concept of
Resistentialism."
- P. Jennings, Report on Resistentialism (1950)
"I must object to Oxford's dubbing resistentialism a
"mock philosophy." There is nothing mock or sham about
it, as anyone who has ever had to call a plumber on a
Sunday morning to unclog a refractory toilet will
attest." - Charles Elster,
Resistentialism: Things that go totally awry
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
Bread always falls butter-side down.
Read the report, wofa. The probability of the toast landing marmalade side down is directly proportional to the cost of the carpet.
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Joined: Mar 2002
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,692 |
"the inherent perversity of inanimate matter." Neat – but I’ve always believed it to be wilful intransigence. So when I trip over a rock I know exactly where the blame lies! 
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
Oh yes--like when the tree jumped in front of my car.
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Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,692
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,692 |
Well, trees don't jump. It just chose to be in that place at that time.
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
There is a way trees can jump, and kill the guy who cut them down. When some large trees fall, a large part of their
kinetic endergy gets stored in many strong flexible branches when they hit the ground. And the the trunk jumps up and backwards. If axeman is in line, he's a goner.
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