Introducing the Glossary
After getting feedback about how much people enjoyed reading the Definitions post – I wanted to find a better way to add new definitions more easily as I find them. So, I created The Glossary as a place to collect them in a prettier, searchable way. I’ve updated the collection with new words that have come my way in the past year and set up a form so you can easily submit words to add!
Take a look >>
ALIGNMENT:
"Applying enough of what’s needed, when it’s needed."
– Andrea Fotopulos
COCKAMAMY:
By the look and sound of it, cockamamy (also spelled "cockamamie") seems like an arbitrarily coined nonsense word-but a reasonable explanation for its origin exists. Supposedly, cockamamy is an altered form of the term decalcomania, which denotes a process of transferring pictures and designs from specially prepared paper to surfaces such as glass or porcelain. The word decalcomaniacomes from the combination of French décalquer, meaning "to copy by tracing," and -manie, meaning "mania." In the 1940s, painted strips of paper with images capable of being transferred to the skin were called "decals" or "cockamanies." They were naturally regarded by many as silly novelties. Hence, in time, the variant cockamamie came to be used as an adjective meaning "ridiculous.”
– Merriam-Webster
CULTURE:
“The rules of thumb people use to make decisions.”
— As defined by researchers, Nunn and Wantchekon, cited in The Invisible History of the Human Race: How DNA and History Shape Our Identities and Our Futures – Christine Kenneally, p. 145
EMPATHY:
“If we cannot communicate our listening in a way that lets the other person know we have truly understood, empathy has not occurred.”
– Dr. Henry Cloud as quoted by Lodro Rinzler, p.37 – A Buddha Walks into the Office
EROTIC:
The erotic is a measure between the beginnings of our sense of self and the chaos of our strongest feelings. It is an internal sense of satisfaction to which, once we have experienced it, we know we can aspire. For having experienced the fullness of this depth of feeling and recognizing its power, in honor and self-respect we can require no less of ourselves.
— Audre Lorde, Uses of the Erotic (in Pleasure Activism by Adrienne Maree Brown p.28-29)
FEEDBACK:
Timely (relevant), targeted (give me the feedback I need, don’t overwhelm me with too much information), actionable (what would you do?
– As presented by Todd Rose (H107 2012, Feedback) class seems to be describing a “strategy of action” like that discussed by Ann Swidler – Swidler, A. (1986). Culture in action: Symbols and strategies. American Sociological Review, 51(2), pp. 273-286.
HORIZONTAL TRANSMISSION:
“Horizontal transmission, the things that are learned from one’s peers and society, and contrast it with vertical transmission, meaning, essential what gets passed down.”
– Christine Kenneally – p.157, The Invisible History of the Human Race
INTEGRITY:
“Integrity means being whole, unbroken, undivided. It describes a person who has united the different parts of his or her personality, so that there is no longer a split in the soul.”
– Rabbi Harold Kushner as quoted by bell hooks, p.155-156 – The Will To Change: Men, Masculinity and Love
LEARNING FROM EXPERIENCE:
“Experience can both confirm what is already known (we see what we have learned to see) and upset what has been taken for granted (when different meanings are in conflict, we readjust our vision to take account of the conflict or to resolve it — that is what is meant by ‘learning from experience’ …)
– Joan W. Scott, 1991 essay on historiography as quoted by Darby English, p.6 – How to See a Work of Art in Total Darkness
