the worthless word for the day is: algorism

Quote:

[ad. mL. > Arab. al-Khuwarizmi (Arab mathematician)]
the Arabic, or decimal system of numeration;
hence, arithmetic

(to be confused with, ultimately the source of, algorithm)

"Al-Kuwarizmi's Algebra is a collection of rules for the
solution of linear and quadratic equations, elementary
geometric propositions and more mundane inheritance
problems involving the distribution of money. The word
"algorism" is derived from Al-Kuwarizmi's name."
- A. T. Haft et al., The Key to the Name of the Rose

"..a denial that at best is swamped by the uselessness
of the effort, the ninny teaching algorisms in some hazy
university to grubby grinds or colonels' daughters."
- Julio Cortazar, Hopscotch



My dear tsuwn, you must stay out of the attic reading all those tomes of definitions past. Your word of today is yet alive and has great currency in certain quarters, as defined...

algorism: the delusional idea that one has done something fantastic. As in..."I invented the internet". -Al Gore

Not to be confused with the term "alegorecal" which means "making up fantistic stories about which four-legged animal won the last presidental election".

Good words.