Well, if you like words, you're probably guilty of EPEOLATRY, which means 'the worship of words.' This word first appears in an 1860 book by Oliver Wendell Holmes Senior. If you consider yourself an educated or 'lettered' person, you might be described as a LITERARIAN, a word adopted from the French in the 18th century and probably modeled on similar words such as 'librarian' and 'antiquarian.'
Some people consider themselves highly educated and lettered literarians, but in fact they are often ULTRACREPIDARIAN -- a word which refers to someone who gives an opinion on things s/he knows nothing about. This rather useful word is first recorded in a letter of 1819 written by influential critic William Hazlitt (indeed, he applies the word 'ultracrepidarian' to a critic here in its inaugural use). This word also has an interesting etymology: it literally means 'beyond the sole,' an allusion to a story involving the ancient Greek painter Apelles.
According to Pliny the Elder, a cobbler criticised Apelles' painting of a shoe, stating that it was inaccurate. Apelles promptly redid the painting. The cobbler, spurred on by the effect his first criticism had had upon the artist, proceeded to criticise the way Apelles had painted the leg above the shoe. But this was too much for Apelles, who reportedly warned the cobbler, 'Let the shoemaker venture no further.' The cheeky cobbler had ventured 'beyond the sole' -- i.e., beyond his own field of expertise. (This story is doubly apt, given that ultracrepidarians often talk a load of cobblers.)
More
No comments:
Post a Comment