The Buzzword Blog #1

Invent your own ism!



Sometimes the natural grammar of the English language can permit an excessive freedom in the coinage of new words and terms.  For example, there is a seemingly endless supply of roots to which the -ism suffix can be attached.  I have coined two new words to express this flexibility of the language.


Ismization.

Ismization: n. - the process of creating a new political movement by adding the suffix -ism to a root, without necessarily employing any process of rational thinking.

Libidinism.


Libidinism: n. - the freedom to think up a new social, economic or

The Moving Finger Writes

I cannot agree that much of what is, these days, called poetry, is in fact poetry.
I base that assessment on a simple rule:
If it isn't memorable, it isn't poetry, q.e.d.
 If I read something, and an hour later can remember only that it is something to do with, say,  a roof, then it is not poetry.

The traditional poetic device of memorably melodic metaphor marching through the mind reinforces recall.  Recall of rhyme recalls the time sublime of childhood play with blocks and bricks of wooden words.

Such is the power of poetry.

The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ,
Moves on: nor all your Piety nor Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,

Creationism Axed - Again !

The stone axe from 400,000 years ago which has been described as "the most important stone tool in the establishment of the geological antiquity of humankind" was mislaid for many years.  It has been  rediscovered thanks to the efforts of  Professor Clive Gamble, an archaeologist in the Department of Geography at Royal Holloway, University of London.

Digging Beneath the Surface of Grammar

How does language work?

A Journey to the Centre of the Universe

There has been debate for millenia amongst philosophers as to where the centre of the universe lies.

There is a possibility that I may have found it.  Please note the classic use of hedging.  There is a reason for this.  If the media should get the wrong idea, they might want photographs of the exact location.  For reasons which should become self-evident, we would all find an intrusion by the paparazzi extremely problematic.

Mental Models.

I Just Hate it When ...

I just hate it when other people blog about or link to a topic when I'm half-way through writing an article on the very same topic.  You know who you are. Hate! Hate! Hate!

Copyright: Arturo J. Paniagua

I doubly hate it when somebody beats me to the metaphorical inkpot and does a write-up using my kind of humor.  Grrrrr!

Caution #1:  strong language!