Books, not which afford us a cowering enjoyment, but in which each thought is of unusual daring; such as an idle man cannot read, and a timid one would not be entertained by, which even make us dangerous to existing institutions, - such I call good books.
Henry David Thoreau
Qui n’ose se contredire ne va pas au bout de sa pensée et n’a jamais fait le tour d’une idée.
Those who fear to contradict themselves avoid real thinking and have never truly examined an idea.
Maurice Maeterlinck
Cum relego, scripsisse pudet, quia plurima cerno,
Me quoque qui feci judice, digna lini.
Reading over what I have written, and despite being the author, I’m appalled to find so much that deserves to be crossed out.
Ovid
...tout ce que j’aperçois me blesse, et je me reproche sans relâche de ne pas regarder assez.
...everything I perceive is painful, and I blame myself ceaselessly for not looking hard enough.
Claude Lévi-Strauss
_________________
FOREWORD
I originally envisaged this little work as multi-authored - a literary forum perhaps with myself as editor. It hasn’t turned out that way, partly because I have made no serious attempt to arouse the interest of a conventional publisher, and partly because - as I now realize - this is a highly personal view of the world and its contents. It was born and grew out of anger (as such books often are and maybe should be), and out of bewilderment at the infinite duplicity and ruthlessness of humankind, at the nonsense we unearth in our search for meaning and purpose, and at the impossibility of finding a final answer - I mean the truth - about anything.
Since this is a glossary, entries are ordered alphabetically rather than thematically which means you can dip in and out at any point. Some are short and simple, others sufficiently complex to give me pause when I re-read them.
Mistakes doubtless abound - typographical, grammatical, logical, ontological, theological, and every other kind available to textual expression and human endeavour. Corrections welcome. But remember: this is an unedited draft; and my eyes glide over errors,
....as though of hemlock I had drunk,
Or emptied some dull opiate to the drains
One minute past, and Lethe-wards had sunk...
(If Keats were alive, I’d apologize for quoting him here - but he isn’t).
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ARCHITECTURAL PILES
ACREM
ALLEGED
ARTIFICIAL HUMOUR (AH)
AUTOMATIC TRANSLATORS
BELIEVING IS SEEING (BIS)
BLAIRISM
BONHOFF’S LAW
BUSHIT
BUILT-IN OBSOLESCENCE
CAPITALIST THEORY OF CORRUPTION
CHAOS
CIRCUMVENTION
CIVILIAN CASUALTIES
CLIMAGEN
COFFEE
COLLATERAL DAMAGE
COMPUTER PHILOSOPHY
CONTIME
CREDIT RATING
DAWKINS DISEASE
DEBT CAPACITY
DEBT RELIEF
DEMOCRATIC ACCOUNTABILITY
DEMOCRACY
DEMOCRATIC DEFICIT
DEMOPHOBIA
DIYSEX
DPT
DO
DRD
ECONOMIC JUSTICE
ECSTATIC HYGIENE
EFFICIENCY QUOTA
EGO
ELECTORAL MANIFESTO
ELECTROSEX
ENCYCLOEXCITANT
EPD
EQUAL OPPORTUNITY
ERROR THEORY
EVENING PRIMROSE
EVOLUTION
EXTINCTION
FACING
FIFTEEN
FLOPS
FRB
FREEDOM
FREEDOM OF THE PRESS
FREEGEM
FREE TRADE
FUN
GLOBAL SWARMING
GOD
GÖDLICHER’S THEORY
GOVERNMENT INSPECTION
HISTORICISM
HOME SPACE DESIGN
HUMAN SOLIDARITY
IDOL WORSHIP
IMPUNITY
INCONTROVERTIBLE PROOF
INEQUALITY
INTELLIGENCE
INTERNAL DECAY
LASER FENCE
LIBERAL DEMOCRACY
LOCH NESS SYNDROME
MARCEL’S MALAISE
MARKET DISCIPLINE
MONOTHEISM
MUTUAL CONTEMPT
NATURESCAPE
NEO-CONS
NETCO
OBSCURANTISM
OUTSOURCING
OVERLOAD
PARADISE
PEACE INITIATIVE
PE
PERTWEE’S PARADOX
PLOUGHING THE SEA
PRISONER’S DILEMMA
PRIVATE FINANCE INITIATIVE
PROGRESSIVE TAXATION
PUBLIC SERVICE
AL-QA’IDA
QUEBEC SEPARATISM
REGRESSIVE TAXATION
REPOPS
REVERSE DEVELOPMENT
RIGHT TO INFORMATION
ROBOTIC SENSIBILITY
SARS
SEX-TEL
SHOP SOILED
SIMSCAPE
SIX(TY) NINE
SLEEPEYE
SOLIDARITY
SOLIPSIST MOVEMENT
S.O.N.G. (Something for Nothing)
SPINSTERISM
SPIRIT DIALOGUES
SPOKESPERSON
STAGE SEX
STATISTICAL WALL
SWAMPLAND
TERRORISM
TIME FLIES
TOURISM
TOYS
TRANSUIT
U.N. (United Nations)
UNDERDEVELOPMENT
UNIFYING THEORY
VIRTUAL ENTERTAINMENT
WAFER
WAR
WMDs
WHOLE LIFE DESIGN (WELD)
WORLD COUNCIL
WORLD PERSONNEL DATABASE
WOT
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