Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Radicalism

RADICALISM, n.  The conservatism of to-morrow injected into the affairs of to-day.

2007 Update:  Ideology in an igneous id.

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

oooh, rad... especially since I'M first!

Minka said...

radicalism,n. when logic takes a vacation and returns to find that it is hard to eat from a table with two legs

Hobbes said...

Rudeness shallowly rooted in politics.

Anonymous said...

Radical: the systemic buck starts there...

I Dive At Night said...

The first recorded usage of the suffix ism as a separate word in its own right was in 1680. By the nineteenth century it was being used by Thomas Carlyle to signify a pre-packaged ideology.

In chemistry, radicals (often referred to as free radicals) are atomic or molecular species with unpaired electrons on an otherwise open shell configuration.

Radicalism: The ideology that open shell configurations are desirable?

G said...

Your mama wears combat boots...or at least your ideology.

Such reasoned and witty responses ahead of me and I'm only #6.

Anonymous said...

RADICALISM n. moving to paradise and getting a job which requires rolling from bed at 5:30 a.m., wearing shoes all day and competing with 4 year-olds for floor space and peaches! Is it June yet?

Anonymous said...

Is an igneous id any relation to a vermicious knid?

In Latin, radix means "root", from which we get radish. Hence, RADICALISM, n.:

1. An obsessive form of vegetarianism, fixated on radishes, carrots, parsnips, etc.

2. An obsession with getting to the root of a problem, commonly with a torch.

3. An obsession with copulation (from the use of the verb "to root" in the vernacular of the Queen's English).

Thanks to definition 3, I cannot, will not, sing Take Me Out To The Ball Game. Ever again. Go ahead. Call me a radical.

Jamie Dawn said...

I must say that Bierce's definition is quite brilliant... very, very insightful.
Of course, yours wasn't bad either.

radicalism: women who don't shave their armpits or legs, and men who ask for directions.

Nessa said...

Radicalism: Exhibited by teenagers and crazy people.

Nessa said...

Radicalism: Thinking different than me.

Doug The Una said...

Rad is when the wind's at your back. Radical is when you blow back.

Haha, Minka. Or when you light a torch run frantically about the village looking for marshmallows.

Hobbes, I agree. Once upon a time, I took my code from Matthew 25. Now it's "try not to be a moron."

Neigh, Neva.

Morgan, you've been doing IT for the BBC, haven't you?

g, you're right. Radicalism is a yo' mama joke gone to college.

Quilly, when it is you'll be five.

Amoeba, I asked myself the same question. I'll try to find out in the elevator. I love definition #2.

Jamie Dawn, you're right. If you want to repress the radicals, a mapbook and deodorant goes a long way.

Sar, that's something I'd as soon not see.

Then what's madness, Nessa?

Actonbell, nice.

Anonymous said...

sar wins.

igneous id? Love that piece.

Jim said...

Radicalism: Rhymes with rascalism and slightly related.

Rascalism: Most recently associated with Tom Delay and the similar ilkes.
..

The OE said...

Radicalism: A situation or condition when neurons in someone's brain reacted so violently to a political doctrine that they exploded and the person dropped dead. Similar to aneurysm.

Doug The Una said...

Thanks, Cooper. Sounds smart, don't it?

Jim, Radicalism, rascalism and vascular schism.

A Secret Agent's breakfast, eh?