What Lunacy Words

Never stop speaking. And speak loudly. That’s what language is for!…source: Wordsmith.org

Wordsmith is a wonderful, funny, insightful and sometimes whimsical site that I visit every day.  Although my mush for brains does not always take everything in or even remember it; still I find it refreshing and often useful.  I highly recommend it for word smiths.

This week’s theme in: A.Word.A.Day with Anu Garg is:  “There’s a word for it” and the first word of the week is:

kakistocracy

PRONUNCIATION:

(kak-i-STOK-ruh-see, kah-ki-)

MEANING:

noun: Government by the least qualified or worst persons.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Greek kakistos (worst), superlative of kakos (bad) + -cracy (rule). Ultimately from the Indo-European root kakka-/kaka- (to defecate), which also gave us poppycock, cacophony, cacology, and cacography. Earliest documented use: 1829.

 

USAGE:

“We must weigh our votes carefully. Else we are in danger of turning America’s time-tested democracy into a kakistocracy.”
Dan Warner; The Best Man for the Job Is Not as Easy as it Sounds; The News Press (Fort Myers, Florida); Jan 17, 2016.

 

Garg’s thought for the day:

“No drug, not even alcohol, causes the fundamental ills of society. If we’re looking for the source of our troubles, we shouldn’t test people for drugs, we should test them for stupidity, ignorance, greed, and love of power.” -P.J. O’Rourke, writer (b. 14 Nov 1947)

Kakistocracy a word I have never heard is a marvelous word and strikes home to me at the present time.  I also reminds me of one of my favorite authors; G.K.Chesterton and this famous quote of his:  Democracy means government by the uneducated, while aristocracy means government by the badly educated.   –G. K. Chesterton  

Now we have a 3rd example to cite as we get on with our lives;  Kakistocracy

Chesterton was a erudite well-spoken author and one of his most famous works are the “Father Brown” Series which is now a PPB series I try to watch faithfully because I believe their new stories and the casting capture the essence of the original.

Chesterton is well known for his fictional priest-detective Father Brown, and for his reasoned Apologetics.  source: Wikipidia

I am back to bed now because the pill kicked in and my leg has stopped throbbing and cramping but I will leave you with some of my favorite GK quotes and wish a good week ahead.  ~~dru~~

“My country, right or wrong,” is a thing that no patriot would think of saying except in a desperate case. It is like saying, “My mother, drunk or sober.”  –G. K. Chesterton

“Wit is a sword; it is meant to make people feel the point as well as see it.”

“It isn’t that they can’t see the solution. It’s that they can’t see the problem.”

An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is an adventure wrongly considered.

THREE ACRES AND A COW

“TOO MUCH CAPITALISM DOES NOT MEAN TOO MANY CAPITALISTS, BUT TOO FEW CAPITALISTS.” G.K. CHESTERTON

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