The dictionary definition of “one who likes to bathe in cold water, especially outdoors in natural bodies of water such as rivers, lakes and oceans” is ‘psychrolute’ (from the Greek words "psychros" meaning "cold" and "loutros" meaning "bath"). Of course, ‘wild swimmer’ is the more commonly used appellation, possibly because, to all but scholars of the classics, it’s more evocative of its subject. Hence (pedants excepted) psychrolute is used only by marine biologists, who know it as the proper name for what is commonly called a blobfish.
But I would
argue that it's not just scientists who find it useful to have a noun, a one-word
definition, rather than a phrase. For example, in everyday life, one has no
option but to refer to one’s cousin’s offspring as “first cousins once
removed”, an awkward phrase to have to insert into a conversation. We could do
with a noun here, but none can be found. Was it a challenge too far for the
scholars of ancient Greek? I consulted my copy of the Reverse Dictionary,
a publication that is designed for looking up words that you suspect exist but
have slipped from your memory. In truth, I didn’t really expect a result. I was
just giving the book a valedictory airing, knowing full well that AI has
supplanted its usefulness. I returned it to the bookcase, where it will remain
as a decorative reminder of the days when reference books were, well,
referenced.
Of course,
there’s no guarantee that knowledge dispensed by AI will be accurate, impartial
or uncensored. It may even be completely fabricated – as is so much that comes
from the official communication channels of various Autocracies, Theocracies, Dictatorships
and nominal Democracies such as the USA (which now surely qualifies as a
Plutocracy). So, how best to protect ourselves against the monopolisation of
information by those who would control our lives for the benefit of their own
interests? Well, efforts have been ongoing for thousands of years, so hope
still burns. I just saw the secretly made Iranian film, The Seed of the
Sacred Fig, a story of family conflicts set against the theocratic state’s
brutal suppression of the hijab revolution. The title is allegoric and refers
to the eventual overwhelming of the tree of state by home-grown dissent. Not everyone
is persuaded by the regime’s rhetoric and diversity is a threat to dictatorship,
which is a good reason to encourage it.
Diversity is
also a word that has come into vogue. When I was growing up, the very concept
was exotic, if not downright alien, to be tolerated rather than accepted. Later
in life, I met and mingled with people who were from different backgrounds and
other countries. This contact had the effect of disrupting my cultural norms: the
manners and etiquette that I had been taught were essential, I came to see as
more of a framework of politeness. For example, tilting one’s soup bowl away from
oneself and silently spooning the contents might be the quintessentially
English way, but it began to seem prudish after I encountered the naked enthusiasm
that Oriental soup-slurpers brought to the table. And at the table is a good
place to start, since the ancient habit of breaking bread with strangers is the
hallowed way of establishing friendly relations.
In the less
diverse days of my upbringing, dinner parties were gatherings of omnivores. But,
as veganism heads for mainstream, I envisage a time when the opposite will
apply. It’s been a while now since ‘special dietary requirements’ began to
appear on invitations to dine (to which one diehard omnivore responded, “a
decent claret, please”) and we have reached a point where even the word
“dinner” needs either a qualifying adjective or a descriptive phrase.
😊 Delphine
ReplyDelete