Spycops In The Boondocks

The Word Collector — part 15

This is the latest in a series about new words and phrases, specimens collected during expeditions into the unexplored deepest, darkest reaches of the literary wilderness, for your entertainment, enlightenment and elucidation. You may know some of these words and phrases already, in which case do feel free to smile to yourself at my ignorance, which knows no bounds.

Antebellum — occurring or existing before a particular war, especially the U.S. Civil War. This was collected from the book “End Times — Elites, Counter-elites, and the Path of Political Disintegration” by Peter Turchin. I try and read some books to “improve” myself, a bit of a lost cause, but one has to try. This tome is a bit intellectual for me, but postulates that history, and hence the future direction of humanity, can be understood using complex mathematics and the study of population cycles in ecology, a bit like Isaac Asimov’s fictional science of psychohistory in his “Foundation” trilogy.

Cliodynamics — is a transdisciplinary area of research that integrates cultural evolution, economic history/cliometrics, macro sociology, the mathematical modelling of historical processes during the longue durée, and the construction and analysis of historical databases. That definition doesn’t leave me much wiser. From “End Times”.

Age of Discord — a neat turn of phrase that sums up our current era rather well. From “End Times”

Wealth pump — the process by which wealth is transferred from the poor to the wealthy. Controversial, but we do seem to have growing inequality, and this explains it rather well. From “End Times”

Popular immiseration- the result of the wealth pump. From “End Times”.

“The Matthew Effect” — the tendency of individuals to accrue social or economic success in proportion to their initial level of popularity, friends, wealth, etc. It is sometimes summarised by the old adage “the rich get richer and the poor get poorer”. The name is a reference to the eponymous Disciple’s book in “The Bible”, from which:

‘For unto everyone that hath shall be given and he shall have abundance …”.

A phrase collected from “End Times”.

Elite overproduction — the theory that at certain times in human history, there is a surplus of children born to the elite, which can create conflict when there are not enough kingdoms for them all to rule over. From “End Times”.

Precarity — the state of being precarious or uncertain; a state of persistent insecurity with regard to employment or income. One might say that since Brexit most of the UK population has become a member of the precariat. Happy days. A word discovered in “End Times”.

Boondocks — this is probably a very familiar expression to U.S. members of Medium, rarely used on my side of the Pond. It is an American expression from the Tagalog word bundók. It originally referred to a remote rural area, but now, is often applied to an out-of-the-way area considered backward and unsophisticated by city folk. A great new word, since my Tagalog is a little rusty these days. From “End Times”.

The Know-Nothing Party — a nativist political party and movement in the United States in the mid-1850s, and no, I didn’t make this up. Amusingly it could be applied very well to some modern-day political parties! From “End Times”.

Phototactic- The movement of an organism or a cell toward or away from a source of light. Collected from the BBC nature programme “Springwatch”.

Haltere — the balancing organ of a two-winged fly, seen as either of a pair of knobbed filaments that take the place of the hindwings, vibrating during flight. From “Springwatch”

Pipping — this word has several definitions, but in the context I heard it, it is used in birds, to describe the process of a chick breaking open the eggshell when it is hatching. From “Springwatch”

Syncretism — the practice of combining different beliefs and various schools of thought. From “End Times”

Hecatomb — (in ancient Greece or Rome) a great public sacrifice, originally of a hundred oxen; an extensive loss of life for a particular cause. From “End Times”.

Entrainment — a phenomenon of the atmosphere which occurs when a turbulent flow captures a non-turbulent flow. From “End Times”.

Precariat — people whose employment and income are insecure, especially when considered as a class. From “End Times”.

Pocket call — one from Mrs. Pearce, to describe the accidental phoning of someone, for example when one’s mobile phone is in a pocket. Fortunately, I do not store the numbers of my harem of mistresses on my phone. 😊

DFL — the acronym is used, in a rather derogatory way, to describe people “Down From London” by the author Donna McLean in her book “Small Town Girl” which I am currently reading. It is a remarkable, true-life, shocking story, of political activists in the UK, who were infiltrated by rogue under-cover police officers, who had long-term relationships, and in some cases even children, with them.

The police recently lost a legal case against the women for assault and breach of human rights, and had to pay compensation. A more detailed account of the whole sorry saga, is contained in the excellent book “Deep Deception” by another of the activists, Helen Steel, well-known in activist circles for taking on McDonald’s. The company prosecuted her for libel in the 1980s, for distributing leaflets with other activists, highlighting their record on environmental issues and animal rights. Helen was represented in court pro bono by none other than the current Labour Party (UK) leader Keir Starmer.

Accidental activist — a neat turn of phrase collected from “Small Town Girl”.

Cyclothymia — a mood disorder which causes emotional ups and downs that are less extreme than bipolar disorder. This specimen was collected from “Small Town Girl”.

Brassard — a band worn on the sleeve, typically with a uniform. From “Everyone Brave is Forgiven” by Chris Cleave..

Involtini — an Italian word for various small bites of food consisting of some sort of outer layer wrapped around a filling. From “ Small Town Girl” (the undercover policeman was Italian).

Arancini — Italian dish consisting of small balls of rice stuffed with a savoury filling, coated in breadcrumbs, and fried. From “ Small Town Girl”.

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.

To join a new Facebook group “Medium Matters” where writers can support each other and share articles.

Mastodon- you can find me here