So glad you appreciated it! And such precision, too! Who knew there were so many insults for such specific types of behavior? Some of my favorites:
• rakefire: A visitor who outstays his or her welcome. Originally, someone who stays so late the dying coals in the fireplace would need to be raked over just to keep it burning.
• snoutband: Someone who constantly interrupts a conversation, typically only to contradict or correct someone else.
• muck-spout: A dialect word for someone who not only talks a lot, but who seems to constantly swear.
• klazomaniac: Someone who only seems able to speak by shouting.
Epsilon minus semi-moron is a Brave New World reference. Huxley isn't using it as an insult, in that society they were actually genetically engineering people with that intellectual caliber to be elevator operators and such. It always confused me that they would intentionally do that. The only thing I can think is Huxley wrote the book in the 1930s prior to most automation.
Yes, I recognized the reference, and while Huxley did not mean it humorously, EGM’s use of it in this context is humorous because it is understood that epsilons are brain-damaged due to experiencing the greatest degree of oxygen deprivation during the “decanting” procedure.
“It always confused me that they would intentionally do that.”
Oh? This doesn’t surprise me at all as dumbing people down to suit their intended roles in society is a standard social engineering practice and has been implemented through the K–16 indoctrination system for well over a century.
As Bertrand Russell says, “Men are born ignorant, not stupid. They are made stupid by education.”
“epsilon minus semi-moron” 🤣🤣🤣
That’s up their with dalcop, fopdoodle, and bobolyne, Olde English insults courtesy of Science News:
• https://sciencenews22.substack.com/p/olde-english-insults
Awesome stuff. I’ve got to work some of those into my lexicon immediately! Lol
Oh, how I love language. Thanks for sharing.
As a word-lover, you may appreciate this Substack, too:
• https://onwords.substack.com/
What a fun and informative Substack! Thank you so much for the link. It’s much appreciated.
Fantastic. Almost makes me want to go back to commenting on the Graun.
Almost.
😆
Much thanks for the link! Still laughing!
So glad you appreciated it! And such precision, too! Who knew there were so many insults for such specific types of behavior? Some of my favorites:
• rakefire: A visitor who outstays his or her welcome. Originally, someone who stays so late the dying coals in the fireplace would need to be raked over just to keep it burning.
• snoutband: Someone who constantly interrupts a conversation, typically only to contradict or correct someone else.
• muck-spout: A dialect word for someone who not only talks a lot, but who seems to constantly swear.
• klazomaniac: Someone who only seems able to speak by shouting.
Epsilon minus semi-moron is a Brave New World reference. Huxley isn't using it as an insult, in that society they were actually genetically engineering people with that intellectual caliber to be elevator operators and such. It always confused me that they would intentionally do that. The only thing I can think is Huxley wrote the book in the 1930s prior to most automation.
Yes, I recognized the reference, and while Huxley did not mean it humorously, EGM’s use of it in this context is humorous because it is understood that epsilons are brain-damaged due to experiencing the greatest degree of oxygen deprivation during the “decanting” procedure.
“It always confused me that they would intentionally do that.”
Oh? This doesn’t surprise me at all as dumbing people down to suit their intended roles in society is a standard social engineering practice and has been implemented through the K–16 indoctrination system for well over a century.
As Bertrand Russell says, “Men are born ignorant, not stupid. They are made stupid by education.”
George Carlin described it as them wanting “obedient workers” (see transcript and video here: https://margaretannaalice.substack.com/p/my-croatian-weekly-hrvatski-tjednik).