Monday, December 25, 2006

Malthusian

MALTHUSIAN, adj. Pertaining to Malthus and his doctrines. Malthus believed in artificially limiting population, but found that it could not be done by talking. One of the most practical exponents of the Malthusian idea was Herod of Judea, though all the famous soldiers have been of the same way of thinking.

2006 Update: Among family.

A curmudgeonly Christmas wish to you all

19 comments:

TLP said...

First blogger to wish you a very Merry Christmas!

Anonymous said...

second!

as for this word? i like it. Merry Christmas to you and yours. xox

TLP said...

Malthusian: Describing our war in Iraq. Or our failure to do anything about the genocide in Darfur.

We could have let the population be checked by famine and disease, but that would be too slow. We're proactive.

Anonymous said...

Merry Christmas from all of us to all of you. :)

Malthusian: Long life for those who deserve it.

Anonymous said...

Malthusian:
Overcopulation -> overpopulation.

As Malthus wrote, too much of a good thing can be a bad thing. Still, here's wishing you -- and everyone hereabouts -- an overabundance of joy today, Doug.

The amoeba said...

That bad already, Dawg? You're not alone ...

That's Methuselan, Brian. My new year's resolution is to practice pedantry along with curmudgeonliness. Except in Nevada, where both are illegal.

mireille said...

Wasn't Swift the one who suggested eating the children (yum) as a means of population control? Yuk. I don't like meat. xoxo Oh, and Merry Christmas!

Anonymous said...

Mathisian: pertaining to Mathis (as in "Johnny") and his music; a general belief that after hearing "Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire" repeatedly on the radio -- one must stick candy canes deep inside one's ears to reduce the sound of his smooth-yet-annoying voice.

Anonymous said...

malthusian: the realization that it's in one's best interest to embrace something other than the theory of survival of the fittest.

Merry Christmas all!

TLP said...

Yeah, Mireille, Swift made that Modest Proposal, but not as a means of birth control. It was to control the famine in Ireland. People were starving and kids were begging in the streets, so why not eat the kids? I mean, the kids would be out of their pain, and folks would have a full belly. No one loves satire anymore. Except me. This was required reading when I was in school. Now, not so much.

Anonymous said...

Merry Christmas and lots of good wishes for a great New Year.

Anonymous said...

Okay -- all afternoon when I tried to visit here I found only a white screen. The day is over, the blog comes up and I see the rest of you had access all along. Grrr ...

Malthusian
mal = bad + (en)thusiam
a zest for killing male children


Hope you had a Merry Christmas, Doug.

OC -- the law in Nevada is whatever you can get away with.

Anonymous said...

Quilldancer: the screen was definitely blank last night -- i'm guessing this post was only "up" for a short time, as evidenced by few comments that found their way here! eh -- he *did* say he was wishing us all a Curmudgeonly Christmas, right? it would seem something happened to ensure his wish would come true.

Anonymous said...

what is this Malpractice of using weird words?

Season's absolute best to you and all here

Doug The Una said...

I hope yours was grand, TLP!

And to you and Joel and the dogs, Neva. Thanks for helping make it grand.

TLP, I don't understand why people can't get behind birth control. It's so easy!

Ha, Brian. I hope you all had a great one.

Al, overabundance was found and eaten.

O Ceallaigh, pedeantry shouldn't be hard to find in a marine biologist. I'm optimistic.

Mireille, maybe It was W.C. Fields, I think, who said he loved children, especially broiled.

Puppybrose, I think TLP's a big Johnny Mathis fan. I don't really know him but from your description, he sounds like a Malthusian boon.

Joel, very clever and true.

TLP, I'd like to read that. I already agree.

Thanks, Goldennib, and the same to you.

Quill, Malthus could have Governor of Nevada. I got a blank screen too when I got home from my brother's. Sorry about that.

Puppybrose, Yup.

Karma, it's what I do. Happy birthday to the late, great, Papa K and many happy fly-swatters.

Minka said...

Wow, it didn´t even occur to me to check blogs over Christmas. I should have known that some people are much more dedicated than I.
I hope you had a wonderful Christmas, many loving moments and some decent food :)

Doug The Una said...

Thank you, Minka. I fairly reeked of affection and gravy. I hope your Christmas was worthy of you.

Anonymous said...

economy of progeny.

The economist in you is showing.

Anonymous said...

Malthusian seems like a rather Hitlerish thing to be, if I am interpreting it correctly. However I suppose it could also refer to something as benign as birth control.