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OP "You may be unfamiliar with the word psittacism - and the related words, psittacine, psittaceous,
and psittacosis. I confess that I did not know these words until I encountered one of them in
my reading last summer. I am grateful to have been reading a book that was both challenging and instructive; as with all such reading, it did me good. The word psittacism refers to conduct
or behavior resembling that of a parrot; specifically, using language - talking (and I include writing) - without paying the slightest attention to what you are saying; talking without any understanding, appreciation, or thoughtfulness about meaning; and makingno effort to find words that do justice
to reality and the truth."
For a dean of education, I think he did a lousy job of using the word "psittacine". To me it suggest
"parroting" somebody else's words without having understood them.
http://www.bu.edu/sed/alumnioffice/newsletter/spring1997/psittacism.html
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