wiggins, n. pl. A series of small jumps, inserting missing premises between
any two others. "As we proceeded along with our wiggins, the conclusion
seemed to get farther and farther away."
sleigh, v. To kill with a chisholm. (Cf. chihara-kiri.)
slote, v. To swallow something large or cumbersome (e.g. a sword, a horse,
an epistemic principle). "She just opened her throat and sloted the goat."
"If you can slote that you must be pretty ungry."
smart, v. To argue against someone until what is going on in him is like
what would be going on in him had he sat on a tack. "That smarts." See also
outsmart.
armstrong unit, n. Measure of the wavelength of belief (= 10 micro-smarts).
smithereens, n. pl. (from Smith Verein) Pluralists. In the jargon of
analytic philosophers, demonstrating the incoherence of a position is
sometimes called blowing it to smithereens.
stalnaker, n. An idée fixe that brings a theory or theorist to a halt. "He
was going great until he got the idea that there was just one mathematical
truth, and that stalnaker hung him up for years." "Einstein's stalnaker was
that God does not play dice."
stich, n. (cf. croce) The art of eliminative embroidery. In the art of
stich, one delicately strips the semantics off the rich tapestry of folk
psychology revealing the bare warp and wood of pure syntax. "A stich in time
saves Quine."
strawson, n. The descendant of a strawman, a position obscurely descended
from a position never occupied.
shoemaker, n. A cobbler's body that has been entered and informed by the
soul of a prince.
schlick, adj. Characterizing a theory of position close-shaven by Occam's
razor. "Push, pull, schlick, schlick."
wilfrid, adj. Said of a theory one presumes to be true but finds
incomprehensible; "You physicists all seem to agree, but it's wilfrid to
me." "I'm sorry, your Holiness, but every time you explain the Trinity to me
it goes all wilfrid in my mind." Also, said of a person, bewilfrid.
wollheim, n. A leisurely investigation, with well-intentioned desires to
return home to the point, but always wandering off again.
ackack, n. Rapid-fire criticism. "I had scarcely finished my talk when I was
cut down by a withering barrage of ackack" Hence ackerman, n. Rapid-fire
critic (cf. thomson gun).
ameliorortate, v. To complicate discussion of a theory or topic by drawing
attention to a panoply of distinctions, difficult examples, and writings
whose relevance had hitherto been conveniently underestimated. "We were
really making progress until she had to go and ameliorortate the issue."
http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/lexicon/
.
|
