It's on the tip of my brain!

I know there is a word to describe the act of doing exactly what one wants to do, even though one knows one oughtn't.

For example: I know I shouldn't eat this entire tray of brownies but I will anyway, because I want to.

This concept can be expanded to define a philosophy that asserts that people will always do exactly what they want, because if they didn't want to do it, they wouldn't.

Perhaps it ends in 'esis- or 'gesis'? For some reason I'm wanting to say "Achresis" but I'm pretty sure that word just doesn't exist.

I've been up and down the internet, my dictionary, and my bookshelves (because I know I encountered it in a book sometime in the past year or so) but I'm still at a loss. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank You,
val

welcome, val!

selfish? narcissistic?

idious
(id-i-o-us)

Welcome, val. I ran *gesis through Onelook, and it's not that. Though the religious ref.'s made me think of the word sinning, but I can't imagine that's what you're looking for. (And running sin through the thesaurus didn't work, either.)

Then I tried *esis...and there are so many that I'm going to ask you to check the list yourself. Sorry I couldn't be of help. Though perhaps tsuwm might know off the top of his head.

Happy

What do you want, Val, egg in your beer?

Precedence precedes usage. As in...

Id: instinctual impulses and demands for the immediate satifaction of primitive needs.

-ious: indicates "full of".

What? You want something with "bling"?

And if you're happy after eating a whole plate full of brownies there's something seriously wrong with your digestive system.

My definition of junk food is food that you want to keep eating even after it starts making you vaguely ill.

Faldage- I believe your definition of junk food is also the definition of Monosodium Glutamate.

Jenny- 'idious' would work... although it's too reminiscent of 'idiocy' for my comfort. :P

Thanks, all, for you kind suggestions, but I'm afriad it's still escaping me. I've been reading a lot of Nick Hornby recently, and I'm thinking it must have come from there... it seems like a concept his characters would apply, no? I'll find it eventually.

Originally Posted By: val_t

I know there is a word to describe the act of doing exactly what one wants to do, even though one knows one oughtn't.

For example: I know I shouldn't eat this entire tray of brownies but I will anyway, because I want to.

This concept can be expanded to define a philosophy that asserts that people will always do exactly what they want, because if they didn't want to do it, they wouldn't.

All my medical brain can offer is compulsion. However, I'm not sure this is the word you're looking for, and I'm pretty sure that it would be inappropriate to use it for the philosophy you describe.

What's wrong with Hedonism? I don't mean that as a philosophical question, but as a possible answer to the original post.

Dysregulation
Unrestraint
Acrasia

Does crazy come from acrasia?

Does crazy come from acrasia?

Nope. Crazy comes from the verb craze (or acraze) '' < French �craser (older variant acrser) 'to flatten, crush'; related to crash. The cracks in the glazed surface of a pot is said to be crazed.

Thanks, instant braincracker

Hi...I'm new here today

I stumbled upon this site the other day when looking at interesting word...which I've now forgotten and want to remember.
Can you help?

It was word for name to do with someones job or profession..and examples were ...like William Wordsworth/poet and Lorraine Bobbit (well we all know what she did...)

http://sp6.fotolog.com/photo/6/24/15/cesooolina/1214676765758_f.jpg

funny cartoon,thanks.

WELCOME

It's called an aptronym or aptonym. I have no idea what that R is doing in the first choice but that seems to be preferred version.

I think we've been here before:
The term aptronym was allegedly coined by the American newspaper columnist Franklin P. Adams, by an anagrammatic reordering of the first letters of patronym (to suggest apt) to denote surnames that suit the occupation of the name�s bearer (such as Baker for a baker). Both aptronym and the synonymous euonym are rarely encountered. [Encyc. Brit.]
..but I don't think you bought it the first time either.

thanks guys...

Originally Posted By: tsuwm

an anagrammatic reordering of the first letters of patronym (to suggest apt) to denote surnames that suit the occupation of the name�s bearer (such as Baker for a baker).

What would you call a name like Anatole France? France is an assumed name, not his birth name.

I dunno; but don't you suppose that if we stepped into the Wayback Machine we'd find the original Mr. Baker was, indeed, a baker who had assumed the name?
-joe (when I a was an engineering student I had a classmate who styled himself 'T. S. Engineer') friday

I would so assume. But it would probably have been so-and-so THE baker, with the article eventually being dropped, wouldn't it? I guess you could call my example a pseudonym, but if he legally changes it it's not a pseudonym or nom de plume anymore.