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'Undersplaining' And 'Elgonisms'

Over the years, some people have accused me of inventing words and have even termed them 'Elgonisms'. I suppose I have made-up some words here and there. I try not to. I think there are already enough words to express most of what I have to say. Whenever I resort to coining a phrase of inventing a new word there is a pretty good reason for it.

There is one word that I think merits mention here. It came to mind while I was writing the previous blog post but I skipped over it. There was already far too much going on in that post. On further consideration I think that the subject deserves its own blog.

My first semester at the University of Texas at Austin, I had enrolled in a required Macro Economics course. I had been told that it was an easy 'A'. I was ambivalent about those courses that others promised were 'GPA inflators'. I needed the grades but I also felt that I was wasting my money having to take classes that really taught me nothing. It happened that the guy that I sat next in that class, James, became my roommate during the ensuing semester. He wanted to split costs on an apartment and so did I. It made economic sense to each of us so I figure that is what I got out of the Macro Economics course.

James was a native Texan, born and raised in Houston. He had been a middle linebacker for his high school football team. Even though he was a little bit on the scrawny side, I never doubted his story. James could be a madman at times, passionate on a few things, focused and unwaveringly opinionated on others. He had a wild look in his eye, something that might frighten the faint at heart causing them to relent in their efforts or at least setting aside their argument until James had left the vicinity. To me his look was that of a religious zealot or perhaps a mass murderer. Yeah it was that scary; James was generally harmless, though.

Anyway our friendship began in that Macro Economics course. He and I used to take turns asking questions of the professor, vague questions to which there was either no real answer or a generalized topical sort of answer that lent itself to the professor's propensity to pontificate. James had told me that the guy could be manipulated. "Ask him something fringe or controversial, and he will waste all the class time trying to explain something that he has no clue about at all." James would do his other homework while the professor rambled on about nothing important or even remotely relevant. It was only toward the end of the class that the professor would reel in his far-flung conclusions, tracking back on to subject just before the end of class.

Now, as for me, I sometimes did other things in that class but usually I listened and tried to figure out what the professor was talking about. It occurred to me that he actually was basically still on subject even as he fancifully flew off on this or that tangent, digressing upon this or that almost unrelated sub-topic. He really was attempting to answer the question that had been posed. When I mentioned this to James, he scoffed as he reasserted what was his fervent belief: "The man is an imbecile. He got his credentials by accident or through a mail order. Anyway he's an economist. Economists are like the world's worst bullshit artists."

Emperors and kings of old used to have court astrologers to advise them as to the proper courses for their decisions in matters of life and death. In modern times where money matters most and all money is based on a fiduciary system the shaman of preference is an economist whose job is to spread out the tarot cards, read the tea leaves, check the bumps on the First Lady's head, count the number of times that the Presidential pooch had to go outdoors for a tinkle during the course of a day and then explain the mysterious forces of the world's economy. Regardless the source of the bull shit, bull shit is still and always will be bull shit.

It occurred to me that the Macro Economics professor had no idea how to answer some if not most of the questions that James and I were asking him. Yet he tackled the challenge with as much hubris and vigor as any so called 'expert' would. As I observed what he was doing and listened to what he was saying, he perhaps had numbed my mind to the point that he eventually started making sense. Alternatively he had perhaps stumbled, stammered and him-hawed but only to a point, and then suddenly it was as if a light had illuminated from the heavens above, and shone down, penetrating the roof to light his way out of his self-excavated pit. Suddenly he became succinct and purposeful. The transition was astonishing to behold.

There was no word that I knew of that could encompass that entire process so I made one. It was obvious to me that in the course of his trying to answer a question he was beginning to understanding something even while he was explaining it, hence the 'Elgonism' that I coined: 'undersplaining'.

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posted by Unknown @ 11:34 PM