Isms

From Autoeroticism to Zoroastrianism--an Irreverent Reference

Gregory Bergman

• Publisher: Adams Media
• Year: 2006
• eBook ISBN: 9781440517884
• Topic: Languages & Linguistics
• Subtopic: Linguistics
• Index: Languages & Linguistics

If you love words, you’ll love -iSMs!

There are words—and then there are -ISMs. More than just expressions with a wacky suffix, -ISMs are the eccentric geniuses of the English language. From esoteric philosophies and arcane religions to avant-garde artistic movements and kinky sexual practices, -ISMs describe our highest forms of human thought and endeavor—and our very lowest.

In this engaging and enlightening book, you’ll explore more than 200 of the most interesting, mysterious, and obscure -ISMs, discovering the true meaning of these intriguing words as well as the often bizarre etymologies, mythologies, and the common and not-so-common usage behind them. With -ISMs as your guide, you’ll be the most sophisticated wordsmith since Yogi Berra.

introduction

“-Ism” is a little word that packs a big punch. From autoeroticism to Zoroastrianism, -isms describe every possible flight of fancy humans can conceive—good and bad, beautiful and ugly refined and crude. John Lennon satirized our all-too-human compulsion to “-ism-ize” our every thought with his own imaginative “-isms,” such as “bagism” and “shagism.” While his “-isms” seem like gibberish on the surface, perhaps Lennon had a point. After all, if you had Ringo Starr looking to borrow money (and talent), you'd put a bag over your head too.

The -ism is primarily used as a suffix for words such as “Judaism” or “socialism,” which entail a set of philosophical, political, or religious beliefs; yet this suffix can also be used to indicate a variety of other concepts, including a medical condition (egotism), a movement in the arts (dadaism), an attribute (smart aleckism), an act or procedure (vandalism), a mode of existence (octogenarianism), a discriminatory predisposition (sizeism), a type of speech characteristic (malapropism), or a theory named after an individual (Aristotelianism).

While “-ism” is technically a suffix, chiefly used to indicate systems of thought, this little linguistic “tail” gained semantic independence around 1680, when it was used for the first time as a word in its own right. By the nineteenth century, Thomas Carlyle began to popularize “-ism” to signify a prepackaged ideology. Unfortunately its independence didn't enhance its reputation, however, as many still refer to “-isms” with disdain, the way Lennon did.

But they'd be wrong. There's much to say in defense of the “-ism.” While John Lennon advised that we abandon -isms in favor of giving “peace a chance,” even the belief in peace has been neatly packaged into an “-ism”—namely, the word “pacifism.” In truth, no suffix has helped change the course of history more than the “-ism”

ABOLITIONISM

WHAT IT MEANS

The doctrine that calls for the abolition of slavery.

The Fight for Freedom

At the time of America's independence, the level of antislavery sentiment in the United States was about as modest as a Mormon on a first date. Starting in the 1830s, this changed and the abolitionist movement was off and running. One of the first famous abolitionist publications was William Lloyd Garrison's newspaper, The Liberator, which condemned slavery. He called for an immediate emancipation of those in bondage. To accomplish this, Garrison and other abolitionists formed an antislavery society in 1833. Within two years, this organization had established hundreds of branches across the free states, spreading abolitionist sentiment farther than Rafael Palmeiro (thanks to steroids) can hit a baseball.

By the 1840s, the abolitionist movement began to split into different factions. The major split was between those who embraced the idea of women's emancipation and suffrage (such as Garrison) and those who didn't. This decade also saw the emergence of famous abolitionists such as Frederick Douglass (1818–1895), Lucy Stone (1818–1893), and Wendell Phillips (1811–1884).

When the Civil War broke out in 1861, the abolitionist cause became synonymous with the South's defeat. After slavery was abolished, Garrison sought to end the antislavery society, thinking justice had been served. Wendell Phillips, however, continued the society until African-American suffrage was achieved. While these organizations were short lived, organizations such as the NAACP have continued the ongoing struggle for racial equality.

READ THIS

Holy Warriors: The Abolitionists and American Slavery, by James B. Stewart

ABSOLUTISM

WHAT IT MEANS

A political theory holding that all power should be vested in one ruler or other authority.

It's Good to Be King

Absolutism was first popularized in the political sense in 1830 by General Thomas Perronet Thompson (1783–1869), a radical reformer who cringed at the thought of absolute power. While absolutism as a political system is historically associated most closely with the reign of the Sun King, King Louis XIV of France, many leaders have ruled with unchallenged authority. Here are just a few of them:

• Augustus Caesar

• Josef Stalin

• Benito Mussolini

• Adolf Hitler

• Caligula

• Nero

• Louis XIV

• Henry VIII

• Ivan the Terrible

• Richard M. Nixon

FURTHER MORE

The term absolutism is also used in moral philosophy. Moral absolutism describes the position that there are moral laws in the universe that are absolute. This means that the morality of an action is inherently either good or bad, no matter what the situation. Let's say a moral absolutist claimed that lying was immoral. He would have to stick to his or her guns and claim that this was always the case, even if a situation arose where a lie seemed like the best thing to do (maybe to protect someone or spare that person from unnecessary pain). One famous proponent of this view is the philosopher Immanuel Kant.

READ THIS

A History of Western Society: From Absolutism to the Present, by John P. McKay, Bennett D. Hill, and John Buckler

The Metaphysics of Morals, by Immanuel Kant

AGRAMMATISM

WHAT IT MEANS

The pathological inability to use words in grammatical sequence.

What Did Say You?

Agrammatism is a condition that makes the sufferer speak like a German exchange student, a mixed-up condition usually caused by brain damage. Most victims of this disorder don't have a problem understanding the content of a phrase, but they can't grasp the concept or proper syntax, or word order. For example, a victim of agrammatism might claim that “The man bit the dog” instead of “ The dog bit the man.” While the latter sentence could be correct if the man really did bite the dog, it seems unlikely—unless the man was Mike Tyson.

READ THIS

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, Vol. 7, Issue 2 (Spring 1995)

Agrammatism: Behavior Description and Neurobiological Explanation, by Friedmann Pulvermuller

ALPHABETISM

WHAT IT MEANS

The discrimination against persons whose surnames begin with a letter that falls in the latter half of the alphabet; also, the preferential treatment of persons whose surnames start with a letter at the beginning of the alphabet.

Slow Siegfried, Clever Collins

Are people whose surnames start with letters toward the end of the alphabet the victims of discrimination? Are the poor Watsons and Zelweilgers of the world persecuted? While agrammatism seems innocuous compared to other monster “isms” like racism or sexism, some suggest it is still a serious problem in our society.

But does having a surname that begins with A or B really help further one's career, like some kind of invisible helping hand? A junior-high schoolmate of mine named Danny had a strange sounding surname that started with a Y. He always seemed to get out of answering question...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• introduction