pkipper has adopted no words, looked up 0 words, created 0 lists, listed 0 words, written 2 comments, added 0 tags, and loved 0 words.
pkipper has adopted no words, looked up 0 words, created 0 lists, listed 0 words, written 2 comments, added 0 tags, and loved 0 words.
Comments by pkipper
pkipper commented on the word pelmanism
From John Le Carre's "The Spy Who Came in from the Cold": "Leamas who normally read nothing, read newspapers slowly and with concentration. He remembered details, like the names and addresses of people who were subject of small news items. He did it unconsciously as a kind of private PELMANISM, and it absorbed him entirely." Pocketbooks trade paperback, 12-01, p. 86 Pelmanism used here is a kind of unconcious fixation or mental fetish.
April 3, 2009
pkipper commented on the word ratiocination
Here is an example of "ratiocination" as it might appear in cases of mental illness as explored in "Tender is the Night" by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
"The faces of the patients wore the expression of one who had just signed profoundly, dismissing something insoluble--but their sighs only marked the beginning of another ceaseless round of RATIOCINATION, not in a line as with normal people but in the same circle. Round, round and round. Around forever."
March 27, 2009