Tuesday, February 01, 2005

Mark Steyn gives me a WOD tonight:

psephological. Well, I see the Free Dictionary is useless tonight... Let's try Webster. That's the book under my leg... Oh, I put that there more recently than the picture. Sorry.

Well, It doesn't have that word, but it does have "psephisma": n. [from Gr. psephizein, to reckon or count with pebbles.] "in ancient Greece, a public vote of the people; also, a measure adopted by such a vote."

Ah! That's leads me to some words The Free Dictionary does have:
Pse'phism
n. 1. (Gr. Antiq.) A proposition adopted by a majority of votes; especially, one adopted by vote of the Athenian people; a statute.

pse-phol-o-gy (s-fl-j)
n.
The study of political elections.

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[Greek psphos, pebble, ballot (from the ancient Greeks' use of pebbles for voting) + -logy.]

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psepho·logi·cal (sf-lj-kl) adj.
pse·pholo·gist n.

Well, Jeepers Creepers! Do ya have the bleepin' word or don't ya!

Update: Here's the article link and an exerpt:
The ''realpolitik'' types spent so long worshipping at the altar of stability they were unable to see it was a cult for psychos. The geopolitical scene is never stable, it's always dynamic. If the Western world decides in 2005 that it can ''contain'' President Sy Kottik of Wackistan indefinitely, that doesn't mean the relationship between the two parties is set in aspic. Wackistan has a higher birth rate than the West, so after 40 years of ''stability'' there are a lot more Wackistanis and a lot fewer Frenchmen. And Wackistan has immense oil reserves, and President Kottik has used the wealth of those oil reserves to fund radical schools and mosques in hitherto moderate parts of the Muslim world. And cheap air travel and the Internet and ATM machines that take every bank card on the planet and the freelancing of nuclear technology mean that Wackistan's problems are no longer confined to Wackistan. For a few hundred bucks, they can be outside the Empire State Building within seven hours. Nothing stands still. ''Stability'' is a fancy term to dignify laziness and complacency as sophistication.