It's on YouTube...

Listen to this YouTube pronunciation of epicaricacy.

Quinion on Epicaricacy

I am not surprised. Quinion has now come out with the opinion that "epicaricacy" is not a fine old English word, but instead an "an erudite modern coining known to hardly anybody and of limited interest." He even seems to refute that it is in Bailey's Universal Etymological English Dictionary, which of course it is as I have written here. I saw it at Powell's Bookstore in Portland (the 1770 edition), though here it is online in the 1763 edition. It's too bad he didn't do a little more digging. I also love this entry on Wordcraft about "epicaricacy." It's erudite, but thought-provoking. While "epicaricacy" isn't in the OED, it was cited as an English word in the OED. As I wrote in a message to Quinion (providing him with the link above from Bailey's), I'll never understand some people's (including the OED's) reluctance to calling "epicaricacy" a word. There are so many worthless words out there (we know this from Tsuwm's WWFTD site), so why the reaction against this great word?

Wow - it has been awhile!

I guess, push come to shove, blogging isn't my thing these days.  There's just too much to do.

However, I recently read something that wasn't really meant for Wordcraft (though, I do plan to mention it as it is relevant for our "rich" vs. "wealthy" thread) and yet I don't like to get political on Facebook - yet I wanted to comment on it somewhere.  I remembered my Blog!  Here is a great quote from Ezra Klein:

Within the general rubric of "inequality," income inequality gets a whole lot more attention than wealth inequality. But wealth inequality is much more concentrated and, in various ways, much more dangerous for the social structure. In particular, it's wealth inequality that really ossifies social mobility.

The children of the top one percent only occasionally manage to match their parent's incomes. But they often receive massive inheritances that grow over time, installing them atop the economic ladder and giving them a political reason to fight like hell against progressive tax policies (the Walton family is a good example here). And this kind of inequality doesn't have any of the salutary benefits of income inequality: Massive inheritances don't make people work harder. They give them a reason to never work very hard at all, and to try to influence public policy so they never have to work hard in the future, either.

How true!  I have seen some of these wealthy families and oftentimes their kids, he is right, end up doing nothing but investing the "family" money.  They have "family" connections and therefore can often get legal protections of their wealth legislated.  It is disgusting, really.  Here is a link to the full article.

Can any Definition Work?

So - is epicaricacy a word, or not?  "If  it's not in a current well-respected dictionary," I am told, "it isn't a word.  "It is not used enough."  "The same people publish the word so it's not in the general vernacular."  Blah, blah, blah.

That's all well and good, though, it  has been in a well-respected dictionary in the past.  However, you can't have it both ways.  It must be that way for all words and their definitions then.  For example, we are talking about the French word couac on Wordcraft.  The meaning in French is "a bad note from a defective or mishandled reed instrument."  Some there think that since that meaning is mentioned elsewhere (not in lexicographic instances) that it is a legitimate definition in English, too.  If it's used that way by some, fine, I agree.  But then epicaricacy is an English word as well.  A tit for a tat, so to speak.

An epicaricacy story on me!

Yes, here you can have your laughs on my misery:

I was in the airport and entered a bathroom.  I entered the first stall and upon leaving went to wash my hands.  I noticed that the sink was disgustingly wet..."a bunch of slobs," I thought.  Then I looked around.  "Why are men using urinals in the women's bathroom," I thought?  Funny how your mind works.  Then, just as a man walked up to me to tell me I was in the men's bathroom, I realized, "Ah...that's why the men are using the urinal.  I am in the wrong bathroom!"  The man said, "I won't tell anyone!"  I sped out and found a women's bathroom and washed my hands there.

Lessons learned:  1) Don't always think you are right!  2) Men's bathrooms are disgusting!

Children of the Nazis

This is a video of the children of Nazis.  In my head I guess I knew that the general public in Germany supported Hitler and the Nazis, but in my heart I couldn't believe it.  Here it is from the mouths of their children.

OEDILF Epicaricacy Limerick

Cat asked for the limerick, so I've posted it below, along with the author's note.  The workshopping is finished, and it should be approved soon.  Yah!  If you haven't visited that site before, you should take a look at it here

Epicaricacy is a word
That is currently used by a nerd:
"Taking joy in misfortune."
The word that I'm torchin',
Schadenfreude, will soon be interred!

Whether epicaricacy is really an English word or not has been debated. It was first cited in Nathaniel Bailey's Universal Etymological English Dictionary in 1727, spelled as epicharikaky, though the subsequent Oxford English Dictionary has not cited it. It is cited in specialty dictionaries, however. The pronunciation of epicaricacy has been debated as well. The pronunciation I am using, ep-ih-KARE-ih-kuh-SEE, is the most often spoken one. However, Mrs. Byrne's Dictionary uses EP-i-kar-IK-i-see. Without epicaricacy we only have a German word, Schadenfreude (pronounced shah-den-FROY-duh in this limerick), to mean "taking joy in another's misery."