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Saturday 24 March 2012

Wordplay - clie


One day when all the climate change nonsense has blown over and we can get on with demolishing the next batch of global lies, a few tattered remnants of battle may well creep into our lexicon and nestle there for a while.

So maybe we’ll add a new word or two. How about clie? Etymology - climate lie. It could be future slang for a manipulative lie. Children, instead of being accused of telling fibs, will be chided with telling a little clie.

Now don’t tell clies, Mum or Dad will say – you know you’ll be found out.

Well you never know – stranger things have happened to our venerable language. The term settled science for example. That was a real humdinger of a clie.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Perhaps by the time your grandchildren grow up 'Windmill' will serve the purpose. Today the word has a good solid meaning, but could shift as the real cost of 'windmills' hoves into clear view.

Clie? I have a preference for plain words, fancy words produce a hiccup in my flow of thought and then the red mist descends and I have to go and lie down. My terminological hit list is headed by 'ontology', 'hermeneutics' and
'epistemology'. I have now added 'autoclitic', clie? not too much reaction yet.

A K Haart said...

Roger - I prefer plain words too. You may be right about "windmill". I'm not too keen on hermeneutics either - it seems intended to exclude.