Nomological - defining by diagram

Here's an adjective you don't hear every day or maybe any day - nomological.

It is uncommon. And a bit awkward to say. What if I told you knowing about this word nomological might help you better understand other people?

The dictionary definition of nomological is:

♦️ relating to or expressing basic physical laws or rules of reasoning.

 

Dry and unhelpful, you will probably agree. Something about rules that describe how people think and reason. Who would think there could be rules about that?!

According to revolvy:

♦️ In philosophy, nomology is concerned with the thinking process of the mind. In the mid-19th century, nomology was described as one of two grand divisions of philosophy, the other being metaphysics. The word nomology is made up of -ology suffix for ‘order’, ‘word’ and ‘reason’. The nom- part is ‘rule’ and ‘law’, and means being objectively lawful (i.e. predictably following laws of logic, as in economics).

Mmm, I thought definitions were supposed to help you work out what a word meant. I've got another approach for this word. 

TATKOP 106

There Are Two Kinds Of People: those who can interpret a Venn diagram and those who put words in circles.

See more in the TATKOP series.

Gruntled - dichotomy humour

Snipped from the socials

By guest explorer: Fred Shivvin

A meme on social media about gruntled being the long-lost opposite of disgrunted caused me to stop scrolling. Haha emoji.

But really? I googled for a while. Heaps of hits resulted - even t-shirts and gruntled websites. The re-discovery of this word seems to have made a lot of people gruntled and amused.

Part of the humour lies in the way the unearthing of gruntled seemed to right a wrong, an unknown sense of something lacking, providing something that should have been there but was not.

Where had the opposite of disgruntled been all this time?

TATKOP 105

There Are Two Kinds Of People: those who think we 'have' gender and those who think we 'do' gender.

See more in the TATKOP series.

Cheap - buying an illusion

Here's a versatile adjective: cheap. Depending on its context, it can be positive or negative. 

In its positive meaning, it can be a compelling adjective: 'Buy this now! It's too cheap not to!' In our western retail stores, the signs screaming 'SALE' are so ubiquitous we hardly see the word, but once '50% OFF' is added, now that's definitely a bargain! 'Those t-shirts are so cheap; I think I'll get three!'

But in its negative meaning, cheap is a dismissive adjective: 'Let's get something else, that fabric looks a bit cheap'. It can also be a critical adjective: 'He's so cheap, he never pays his share', or 'Talk is cheap; I want to see action'.

Interesting. What does the dictionary have to say about the word cheap:

♦️ charging or obtainable at a low price; purchasable below the going price or the real value

♦️ of inferior quality or worth; stingy; contemptible because of lack of any fine, lofty, or redeeming qualities

♦️ gained or done with little effort.

So, when it's about the price we have to pay for something, cheap seems positive. Yet when cheap refers to the quality of a product or a person's behaviour, it's not good at all. The negative implication of cheap is that something important is missing, something that we expect to be present: quality, generosity or effort.

Why do we have a different connotation altogether when cheap refers to the amount of money we have to pay? 

If we look a bit closer, we will see that someone important is missing then too.

Romantic - the language of flowers

♦️ Romantic (adjective): relating to love or to sexual relationships.

It's a Tuesday evening and my friend B and I are enjoying a beer after work. We're doing what we often do: making up back stories about the city workers walking past on their way home.

It's nearly 5pm and the streets are starting to crowd, so we finds lots of inspiration in the jostling pedestrians. Eventually B says, "Why are so many people carrying flowers?"

"Because it's Valentine's Day; didn't you remember? Ooh, you'll be in trouble when you get home!"

He shrugs, "Nah, I would never get flowers just because it's Valentine's Day. We never used to do that in Australia. I don't know why we started. I think Lee minds a bit, but I find it annoying to be told I have to buy them."

TATKOP 104

There Are Two Kinds Of People: those who think 'love is all you need' and those who run the world.

Inspired by Prince Charles' amusement at his Harry's wedding at the speech by Bishop Curry about the power of love, and this image of the word 'love' surrounded by the destruction caused by fire, from Liam Hemsworth.

See more in the TATKOP series.