Wednesday, December 16, 2009

While we're on the subject of etymology

Even though I'll never get credit for it, I invented Carpetblogger. It all started right after the storm when that prick from New York said he and his peeps were going to "come down here and tell the true story of Katrina!" I forgot on what blog the conversation ensued, but I remember I threw the term out first, dammit.

I'm still in admiration of Edtilla's Syllodomy.

Another one I just came up with tonight: Crucifiction - to castigate someone with false allegations.

The one word which I've always jonesed to create but struggled to find the right combination of latin roots, is to describe, "a predisposition which leads one to believe the moment they occupy in time is superior to moments past or future.", and/or, "to judge moments in the past or future by the standards of the present." So the closest I could get is: Chronocentrism. I thought about Temporalcentrism as well, but neither does the trick for me...it should be something like Chrono-ego-centrism. The search for this word has driven me crazy for decades.

I'll give you an example, I watched Jeff Crouere on Ringside Politics, way back around 2003, try and make the argument that "Darwinism" (which doesn't exist) is irrelevant because Darwin was a racist. Well, by today's standards, almost everyone was a racist in the 1800s, including Abraham Lincoln. (but not Linkerham Brinkington...he was perfect.) He was judging people who lived in a different era by today's standards.

So with that word we would need to find the opposite, "the belief that a moment in the past or future was superior to the present." Nostalgia may fit the bill for the past, but not sure there is one for the future.

Got words?

I promise my next post will be substantive...no more tangentiblogging.

13 comments:

Beth said...

I don't have a single word for that second one (belief in the past or future as superior to the present) but that's the Myth of the Golden Age.

Leigh C. said...

Bless you, dude. Such a thoughtful member of the blogpocheh... *pinching of cheeks*

Anonymous said...

Palin-did-it.

Anonymous said...

amazingly, i note that "carpetblogger" isn't defined on urbandictionary.com yet. here's your chance.

Anonymous said...

Your "Chronocentrism" appears to be something of a synoym for the word "Whiggish". I might have added an extra "g" in the middle, but try go looking that word up to see if it fits, or comes close to fitting, what you want.

Anonymous said...

Carpetblogger is an amazing word.

Kaufman said...

pre-temp-tiousness?

era-gance?

Jason Brad Berry said...

- amazingly, i note that "carpetblogger" isn't defined on urbandictionary.com yet. here's your chance.

Anon...it is now! :)

Jason Brad Berry said...

Anon 3,

Whiggish is not it, but great word.

Jason Brad Berry said...

Kaufman,

era-gance....i love it. take that to urban dictionary, bro.

carpetblogger said...

If by invent you mean "not do a cursory google search and see Carpetblog has been around since December 2004," you're right.

Hugs,

Carpetblogger

Jason Brad Berry said...

well, sir....show me the source at 2004 and i will bow.

...and buy said source a drink.

Jason Brad Berry said...

and i also expect said source to have some gravity. if you're anywhere north of the mason dixon line, well you better come at me barrel's loaded.

come on, man. let's work this one out.