Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia And The Matthew Effect

The Word Collector — part 20

This is the latest in a series about new words and phrases collected during expeditions into the deepest, darkest literary and media wilderness, for your amusement, amazement and general astonishment at my ignorance.

Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia — Every so often one comes across a real gem of a word, and this is one of them. It means the fear of the number 666, and was unearthed in an excellent article about lucky charms, by Medium author Helen Lawrence -

Not a word that you see in an article title every day, clickbait or otherwise, so I am going for the record of its first use in a Medium title unless this honour has already been claimed! The significance of the number is that it appears in the Bible, in the book of Revelations, and elsewhere, as the number of the Beast, and is associated with the Devil, so not a number you want to come across too often.

I have to say, I am slightly superstitious myself, and dislike seeing this number appear occasionally, such as on my car display that records average miles per gallon, and am quite pleased when it rolls over to a different number. It is probably not a word I could even pronounce, let alone remember at the appropriate time, but a great one all the same, so thank you to Helen for introducing it.

The Matthew Effect — this phrase appears in the book “Outliers” by Malcolm Gladwell, who writes about popular science in an accessible way that makes the reader feel briefly more intelligent, a very transient experience in my case. The essence of The Matthew Effect is the concept that “to those that have will be given, and from those that have little, will be taken away”. It seems to sum up the unfairness of life very well! An alternative phrasing would be the popular adage that:

“the rich get richer and the poor get poorer”.

The term was coined by sociologists Robert K. Merton and Harriet Zuckerman and takes its name from the “Parable of the Talents” in the biblical Gospel of Matthew.

In terms of one of the key messages of Gladwell’s book, he claims that many very successful people owe their success to a large element of good fortune, being in the right place at the right time, or coming from already privileged backgrounds, a message which perhaps offers some welcome solace to fellow low-achievers!

The 10,000-hour rule — this concept has been around for a while now, and I think Gladwell probably helped popularise it in his book “Outliers” — the rule is based on the theory that in order to achieve mastery of a subject, language, or musical instrument for example, you have to put in a minimum of 10,000 of effort and study. Though it has to be said that there are some of us who put in this many hours and more, but still fail to achieve expertise, as my accordion playing bears witness.

The following specimens are all from the weighty tome “Vietnam — An Epic History of a Tragic War” by Max Hastings, which I am still wading through, at a rate that means that it may take me longer than the war lasted to complete it.

Syllogism — a noun meaning an instance of a form of reasoning in which a conclusion is drawn from two given or assumed propositions (premises); a common or middle term is present in the two premises but not in the conclusion, which may be invalid (e.g. all dogs are animals; all animals have four legs; therefore all dogs have four legs); deductive reasoning as distinct from induction.

Subborn — a verb meaning to induce to commit perjury or give false testimony.

Wiseacre — a person with an affectation of wisdom or knowledge, regarded with scorn or irritation by others; a know-all.

Propinquity — the state of being close to someone or something; proximity; close kinship.

Vitiate — spoil or impair the quality or efficiency of; destroy or impair the legal validity of.

I hope you enjoyed this latest collection and do share any favourite new specimens of your own in the comments.

As always, thank you for reading.

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