[Peace-discuss] Keywords 120618

Szoke, Ron r-szoke at illinois.edu
Thu Dec 6 20:48:50 UTC 2018


Keywords  120618

A review of some terms useful in political analysis & polemics

smartass, asshole, bullshit, shithole

smartass (ˈsmɑːtˌæs)  adj
a US word for smartarse<https://www.thefreedictionary.com/smartarse>
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014
=  smartarse (ˈsmɑːtˌɑːs)  n
derogatory slang
a. a clever person, esp one who parades his knowledge offensively
b. (as modifier): smartarse guidebooks.
ˈsmartˌarsed adj
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014

ass·hole  (ăs′hōl′)  n. Vulgar Slang
1. The anus.
2. A contemptible or detestable person.
3. The most miserable or undesirable place in a particular area.
[ass<https://www.thefreedictionary.com/ass> + hole<https://www.thefreedictionary.com/hole>.]
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016

ass•hole (ˈæsˌhoʊl)    n. Vulgar Slang.
1. anus.<https://www.thefreedictionary.com/anus>
2.a. a stupid, mean, or contemptible person.
b. the worst part of a place or thing.
[1350–1400]
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010

>  Characteristic utterance:  “Don’t you know who I am?”
—See: Aaron James, Assholes: A Theory (Doubleday, 2012, 221 pages.)   [Ph.D. in philosophy, Harvard University; professor of philosophy & department chair, UCal Irvine.]   ~ RSz.

bullshit  (bull, B.S.)
>  Re:  Harry Frankfort, On Bullshit  (Princeton U.P., 2005, 67 pages)
One of the most salient features of our culture is that there is so much bullshit. Everyone knows this. Each of us contributes his share. But we tend to take the situation for granted. Most people are rather confident of their ability to recognize bullshit and to avoid being taken in by it. So the phenomenon has not aroused much deliberate concern. We have no clear understanding of what bullshit is, why there is so much of it, or what functions it serves. And we lack a conscientiously developed appreciation of what it means to us. In other words, as Harry Frankfurt writes, "we have no theory."

Frankfurt, one of the world's most influential moral philosophers, attempts to build such a theory here. With his characteristic combination of philosophical acuity, psychological insight, and wry humor, Frankfurt proceeds by exploring how bullshit and the related concept of humbug are distinct from lying. He argues that bullshitters misrepresent themselves to their audience not as liars do, that is, by deliberately making false claims about what is true. In fact, bullshit need not be untrue at all.

Rather, bullshitters seek to convey a certain impression of themselves without being concerned about whether anything at all is true. They quietly change the rules governing their end of the conversation so that claims about truth and falsity are irrelevant. Frankfurt concludes that although bullshit can take many innocent forms, excessive indulgence in it can eventually undermine the practitioner's capacity to tell the truth in a way that lying does not. Liars at least acknowledge that it matters what is true. By virtue of this, Frankfurt writes, bullshit is a greater enemy of the truth than lies are.
— Amazon web site

cp. humbug, drivel, hogwash, bunk (bunkum, buncombe), garbage, poppycock. etc.  (q.v.)

shit-hole   n
informal   taboo
a very bad place; a disgusting place
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014

> Term used by the President of the USA for Haiti & some African countries.


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