TATKOP 119

There Are Two Kinds Of People: those who can live with ambiguity and those who avoid reality.

See more in the TATKOP series.

Tenniser - a summer research project

By guest explorer: Fred Shivvin

It's summer. Holidays at the beach: hassled driving, then relaxed dining, drinking, reading, sleeping, swimming, watching the cricket and playing it on the beach. (Or, for some, fighting bush fires).

The holiday beach game. Source

When you do any of these you become: a (hassled) driver, diner, drinker, reader, sleeper, swimmer, watcher (or viewer), player and cricketer. ''I'll be the bowler first. You go fielder, Fred.' (Or, for some, a fire-fighter).

I'm also watching and playing that other summer sport - tennis. And it occurs to me: why is there no word tenniser?

Rules in English almost always have exceptions. But the word tenniser doesn't break any English rules or conventions, so why don't we use it?

Over my summer holiday, I decided to find out why.

TATKOP 118

There Are Two Kinds Of People: those who relish others' knowledge and those who relish others' ignorance.

See more in the TATKOP series.

Admin message Xmas 2019

Hello fellow Wordly Explorers

We've taking a short break from posting to consider the blog, what we might keep doing, what we might change, to talk with some interested writers, and also to have a little refresh. 

If you're taking a break now too, we hope it is full of wonderful words. 

Economist - a word that requires an adjective

The journalist was interviewing the Prime Minister about a government proposal for boosting jobs. The proposal had no modelling, no risk analysis, no costings - no detail in fact. 

Would you trust them? Source

She asked him how he knew the program would work without any of this basic groundwork being completed.

She asked, 'Why should the Australian people trust your word?' 

'Well’, he replied, 'because I am an economist, Leigh.' 

In the political fog that makes it difficult to find facts and detail, this comment struck me as particularly alarming. I think the prime minister thought he was providing a genuine and satisfactory answer. 
 

Why is economics a matter of 'trust'?

It's not any sort of answer actually. It just raises a whole lot of questions.

When a politician justifies their view by saying they are an economist, does that mean their views are correct? What expertise are they claiming? What gives an economist authority to comment on the hugely complex society of a country? Why does the prime minister think that an individual economist can forecast the outcomes of fiscal policy, even without doing any modelling? (And I have to add, can the prime minister even claim to be an economist? Studying a Bachelor of Science (Hons) in geographic economics - a subfield of geography - and then never working in the field hardly makes one an economist. But then, that's probably the least pressing of the questions I have about this field.) 

Let's start at the beginning: what is an economist anyway?

TATKOP 117

There Are Two Kinds Of People: those who think that gender is socially constructed and those who don't know what social construction is.

See more in the TATKOP series.

Douchebag - easy sewing project

By guest explorer: Mae Wright

The last post Douches - and other bags touched on the practice of adding 'bag' to words to make an insult about people - a 'human bag' full of whatever unpleasant stuff - douche, wind, scum, rats etc. (It also links to using old bag or baggage as insult for an older woman.)

If adding 'bag' makes an unpleasant substance into an insult, it follows that a bigger bag is a bigger insult. Right?

Which brings me to the douche satchel!

From Urban dictionary, the douche satchel is:

♦️ a 'satchel' is a really big bag... of 'douche'. So someone who is a really big douche bag, would be a 'douche satchel'
♦️ an expletive, used in instances of anger/frustration.

Artist's impression

That makes sense: some douchebags are very annoying, and some are very, very annoying. The more overtly entitled and in-your-face, the more irritating and aggravating, so the larger the 'bag'. 

I wonder, is this the beginning of douche insults escalating in baggage sizes? The douche backpack, the douche suitcase, the douche ski-bag? (Come to think of it, I'm sure I've dated a few douche ski-bags.)