politics

Word of the Day: Thank you Lord Monckton.

49 Comments

Shhhssss… Don’t tell anyone. But I like to read the Viscounts writing just to learn new words.
I finally got around to reading Monckton’s August report at SPPI. I was disappointed to discover it contained only one unfamiliar word! That word is:

“seriatim“: “Latin for “in series,” is a legal term typically used to indicate that a court is addressing multiple issues in a certain order,… ”

Of course, the communique did contain other flowery words. Unluckily for me, I grew up Roman Catholic; I recognized words like ‘argumentum ad misericordiam’.

Next month, I’m hoping Monckton will include some Yiddish. It’s not so good, my Yiddish.

P.S. Yes. That graph is still there.

49 thoughts on “Word of the Day: Thank you Lord Monckton.”

  1. “Unluckily for me, I grew up Roman Catholic”

    Lucia,

    FYI to provide some balance – I grew up Roman Catholic, I’m a Roman Catholic right now, and I am intending to be a Roman Catholic for the rest of my days.

    I wonder why you feel it was unlucky that you grew up Roman Catholic? I have to ask since I think you intended to be derogatory.

    Perhaps you’ll explain.

    Andrew

  2. Andrew– Actually… I don’t consider growing up RC to be particularly unlucky. But it does cut into the number of new words I might learn reading Monckton’s missives which is unlucky in this context. OTOH, I can still learn Yiddish; so if he gets into the habit of dropping Yiddish, I’ll be able to learn more! 🙂

  6. M of B is what is called in England a ‘national treasure’. A description variously applied to Tony Benn, William Rees-Mogg.

    To be a national treasure you have to be older, opinionated, not affiliated with extreme right wing politics (Enoch Powell would never have become a national treasure), a bit curmudgeonly but with an air of reasonableness. You must put your points in a personal, non-hectoring way. The opinions should be bordering on the outrageous, and the line you take should be consistent. You should be a public figure of some sort, you should keep on with it.

    I guess William F Buckley was a US equivalent, perhaps Gore Vidal? Well, M of B is certainly in there.

    Not a bad piece the August one. Brings a smile. Very dangerous thing to read while drinking one’s morning coffee, though!

  9. I too started a blog today. There’s nothing on it yet, and may never be much. But I called it seriatim.

  12. I know it souonds greek, but a friend of mine who knows the language tells me “Apikoros” is Yiddish for “skeptic”.

  16. michel (Comment#18999)-Speaking of Buckley and Vidal, let’s not forget the famous exchange between the two:

    “Listen you queer, stop calling me a crypto-Nazi, or I’ll sock you in the goddamn face and you’ll stay plastered.”

    WFB Responding to Gore Vidal’s baiting language during debate over the 1968 Democratic National Committee riots on ABC News.

  17. Nick Stoke:

    But I called it seriatim

    Bad mistake, you’ll get a lot of questions about cholesterol control there (well, it sounds like a name for a pharmaceutical to me, what can I say???)

    I know one about a Franciscan, a Domincan and a Jesuit. It was told to me by the Benedictine priest who was my undergrad advisor. (Imagine that, lol.)

  20. Well, I’ve heard ‘Apikoros’ used mostly as ‘heretic’ – I suppose to the true believers in AGW a skeptic and a heretic are the same. At least in Judaism, you’re allowed to ask questions without being banned. 😉

  21. Jamie–
    In highschool, my best friend was Jewish. She– oddly enough– attended my Catholic highschool. We lived in different towns. I stayed over weekends and went to some of her religion classes. Her religious instructor (a really hunky Israeli guy hamed Chaim) would encourage me to be involved in the discussions and also asked me to explain how the Jewish ones compared to the Catholic ones. Let me tell yah….. !!!! (Actually, there is a big range to RC religious instruction. But CCD for little kids on Sunday is very difficult to explain to Jews. On the other hand, classes taught by the RSCJ Religieuses du Sacré CÅ“ur de Jésus are not like CCD.

    (You can read what wikipedia says about the RSCJ here)

  23. Lucia –

    Interesting – but yeah, now that you mention it I’ve known of a few Jewish kids who went to Catholic schools. That’s great that you got to do that.

    There’s a big range in Jewish instruction too, depending on your level of observance (Orthodox, Reform, etc.). The RSCJ sound kinda neat.

  24. As I am greek and the word sounds greek, I googled it:

    http://rabbirami.blogspot.com/2007/11/i-apikoros.html
    “Apikoros is Hebrew for Epicurus, the 3rd century BCE Greek philosopher who taught a secular, atheistic understanding of reality that placed reason and the pursuit of happiness at the center of human life. The ancient rabbis feared the influence of Epicureanism and used the term apikoros (apikorsim, plural) to mean “heretic” in the same way Ann Coulter uses the word “liberal” to mean “godless and un-American.” The rabbis even added a curse upon apikorsim to their liturgy: “may all the apikorsim be destroyed in an instant” (part of the 18th benediction of the Amidah). “

  25. Jamie–
    The RSCJ themselves are kinda neat. By the way… I was visiting my sister for a family party to meet my nephews girlfriend. There were several Woodlands graduates there. (Woodlans== ‘the highschoo in question. ) The discussion wandered into recent politics, and I learned Jenny Sanford (whose husband took the hike on the Apalachian trail) was at Woodlands (my high school) when I was there. She was a freshman when I was a senior. ( As you can imagine, the conversation involved a lot of “Poor Jenny!” and “He’s a shlub!!!!” In case you are wondering– yes I remember her vaguely. I remember some of her older sisters. They were all nice.)

  26. Lucia – I must say I admire Jenny Sanford. Seeing women stand around with their husband politicians as they publicly confess to heaven-knows-what makes my stomach turn. I’m glad to see someone finally stand up for themselves.

  27. So you never heard the word seriatim?

    About 25-30 years ago, some HR genius came up with this use of the term.

    Corporate managers at some corporations had to make up a “list”.

    You did not want to be near the bottom of the list.

    Think life boat drill, with fewer seats on the life boats than names on the list.

  28. Jamie

    I must say I admire Jenny Sanford.

    Yep. Me too. I think Jenny Sandford has behaved very, very, very well. In fact, she has managed to illustrate the ideal behavior for a wife under these circumstances.

    Her husband is behaving like a graceless, egotistical, self-involved schlub. I’m sure he has his positive points which won her to him in the first place, but those traits certainly aren’t showing now.

    I thought the same before I realized I actually met her in high school. (There were only about 70 girls in each class. So, I did meet her. Don’t remember her and I’m sure she doesn’t remember me. But I met her.)

    I wish her well, as did the other in the “Woodlands” crowd at my sisters get-together.

  30. John M

    So you never heard the word seriatim?

    It’s not used in the latin mass. 🙂

    Actually, the teachers in high school discouraged the dropping of stray latin (or french, spanish, italian, german &etc.) words into our essays. English has plenty of words and you will generally get your point across more clearly by using them.

    Needless to say, the engineering curriculum did not encourage introducing the odd foreign language term into my writing either. ( I sometimes do do it– it’s always a joke.)

  31. Carrick (Comment#19024

    Bad mistake

    Well, it could have been worse – my first choice was heteroskedasticity.
    But I found I couldn’t consistently spell it. Lucia saved the day.

  33. Well at least he didn’t have a child with the closest thing in a skirt when his wife was dying of cancer.

    You know, Edwards.

    But Sleeper is right. Typical politician. And I thought Sanford was one of the better ones. Go figure.

  34. Oh yeah, and seeing as I’m Half French Canadian and a Quarter Spanish (as in, Iberia), I have always liked the idea of having Jesuit ancestors. Do I? Dunno. There is the obvious problem of celibacy, I believe, but I’d take even a 27th cousin or something. Why? Well, among the orders they have the best intellectual history, are known for being a little more theologically liberal (even to the point where I would tend to disagree with them) among their numbers there have been both geniuses and nutcases:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Famous_Jesuits

    Among several other things.

    Would I be a Jesuit? No. I’d start my own order. And it would be even cooler.

  35. Andrew_FL–
    True. But Sanford’s public discussions take the cake. It’s hard to imagine the least bad thing he could have said after taking his walk on the Apalachian trial, but “Why did I do it? I was a jerk. A real jerk. A jerk, jerk, jerk. Now, I’m begging my wife’s forgiveness and hoping she takes me back. I don’t want to say anything else.” To additional questions he could have answered “I was a stupid jerk. Can we change the subject?” This could be repeated over and over until the reporters got tired.

    But all the junk about wanting to figure out if the other woman was his true love.. blah… blah…blah… On that score, the less said, the better.

  36. Sanford should have been a Kennedy. They have handlers to manage screw ups like that.
    Lucia,
    You have a delicate yet rappier sharp sense of humor. Thank you for sharing it.

  37. One cannot always remain faithful to one’s spouse, but one can always avoid making a fool of him or her.

  38. Ahhh michel.

    You sound so French! But, yes. Certainly, should one find they were not faithful, they should think carefully about which behaviors will make everything worse for the injured spouse.

    hunter–
    I think with some of the Kennedy’s, the men just didn’t think wives should expect fidelity. Period. Oddly, some of the wives may have not entirely expected it either. I was born in El Salvador and my dad lived for part of his childhood with his mother’s family in Cuba. In some cultures, it’s not uncommon for the second family of wealthy men to be open secrets. (My father and his brother Chico were a bit puzzled to meet their “cousins” at Catholic school. Their father was Tio Francisco… but their mother wasn’t Tio Francisco’s wife. Dad’s uncle was unusual in sending the kids from the ‘second’ family to decent private schools, but.)

    But the Kennedies did need handlers because a) the voting public might not see things the way they saw it and b)there was the whole Chappaquiddick thing for Ted. That went well beyond merely cheating. Even if he hadn’t been cheating, drunk driving, fleeing the accident and leaving a woman to die is not a good thing.

  39. My favorite Yiddish word is “nebbish” which means something or someone which is both ridiculous and pitiful.

    I think it is Stanley Ulam tells a story in his autobiography about a jewish boy in Vienna pre-1914 who comes home from school and reports that he has failed a history test.
    “What was the question?” asks his father.
    “Describe briefly the historical mission of the House of Habsburg in the past, present and future”.
    “And what did you answer?”
    “Nebbish, nebbish, nebbish”.
    “And what was wrong with that?”
    “I spelled nebbish with one b”

  40. Chutzpah.

    Which is what the boy who has just been convicted of the murderer of his parents has when he throws himself on the mercy of the court because he’s now an orphan.

  41. I too was brought up an RC. I am not now an RC (still trying to work out how to be excommunicated) and I will never ever be an RC again.

  42. JohnA–
    I think you have to be elected to high office before anyone will consider excommunicating you. Although, maybe you could behave like PZ Myers and make a big to-do about your plans to desecrating hosts, carrying out your plans, and then blogging about it.

    Otherwise, most people are way to far below the radar to be excommunicated.

  43. Oh, yes, it was about Monckton, and words.

    Winston C. might not have been the leader he was in the time which needed him, had he not known good words and the way to combine them.

    NPR and PBS would love Monckton if he believed differently about AGW.

  46. Michel,

    “One cannot always remain faithful to one’s spouse, but one can always avoid making a fool of him or her.”

    Wrong on both counts.

  47. Andrew_FL (Comment#19089) September 1st, 2009 at 7:39 pm
    Oh yeah, and seeing as I’m Half French Canadian and a Quarter Spanish (as in, Iberia), I have always liked the idea of having Jesuit ancestors. Do I? Dunno. There is the obvious problem of celibacy, I believe, but I’d take even a 27th cousin or something.

    Although not an RC I discovered that I have two ‘Blessed’ martyrs of the church in my ancestry ( entries in the catholic encyclopedia!)

  48. Sometimes a way with words can be dangerous.
    As Bevan said of Churchill:
    ‘the Prime Minister wins debate after debate and loses battle after battle.’

  49. I got here late and the thread looks dead, but what the hey:

    hunter (Comment#19131)

    ‘”You have a delicate yet rappier sharp sense of humor.”

    Yeah, and I can’t wait for a sample of her Hip-Hoppier sense of humor (not to mention the rapier wit).

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