If there
is one sure fire way to spot an idiot, it would have to be the way some people
– usually conspiracy theorists (ironically also referred to as ‘truthers’) –
think they have figured out what some words actually
mean or how words are sometimes used against them.
For
example, I recall one particularly idiotic truther tried entertaining his
disturbingly large audience of 200 people with the revelation that the word
‘youngster’ is really referring to youngsters as being ‘young stars’ as human
beings are in fact beings of light. Nevermind that the etymology (the study of
the origin of words and their historical usage) of the word ‘young’ stems from the
Old English word ‘geong’ and Middle English word ‘yong’ which both refer to
someone as being from the early part of life or as possessing the looks of
someone who looks as though they belong to the early part of life. The suffix
‘-ster’ is also derived from Old and Middle English (and Proto-Germanic) and at
when added to a word refers to that thing as belonging to a specified group or
as doing something specific. Unsurprisingly, the word for a youngster is
‘enfant’ in French and ‘junge’ or ‘kind’ in German, words that have ZERO to do
with this truther’s claims about young people being the children of stars. Certainly
one can just make up out of thin air their own etymologies, but that doesn’t
mean their imaginings are true. [The same person completely ignored some key
definitions of ‘defense’ and intentionally narrowed the meaning of the word to
make a rather poor argument in their favor regarding imperialism.]
Then
there’s this ridiculous conspiracy theorist meme, depicted on the left. In actuality,
the word ‘govern-’ as it relates here is derived from the Old French word ‘governor’
which is itself derived from the Latin ‘gubernare,’ itself derived from the
Greek word ‘kybernan’ meaning to pilot or captain a ship. Meanwhile, ‘-ment’ was
imported from the French and Latin ‘-mentum’ and means the result of an action.
As one clever commenter wrote on English.stockexchange.com “If ‘-ment’
always referred to the mind, then a replacement would be a brain transplant,
punishment would be a headache, and an attachment would be a neural implant.”
More
recently, another truther tried to explain in her Youtube video that when
police ask you if you understand what
they are saying, answering ‘yes’ means you are giving them permission to stand over you. Nevermind that the word
comes from the Old English usage of ‘understandan’ which simply means to
perceive the meaning of words or ideas spoken to you. That’s it. If what this
conspiracy theorist is saying is true, then you simply have to tell police you
don’t understand them when they ask you if you understand and it’s like a
get-out-of-jail-free card!
Conspiracy
theorists / truthers (‘-ists’ and ‘-ers’ is used in a very similar fashion to
‘-ster’, btw) claim to want to make you think, but when you do and actually do
research the things the talk about and come to a ‘real’ conclusion, they’ll
have none of it. They’ll throw every ad hominin attack or straw man fallacy in
the book at you. Conspiracy theorists are alarmingly delusional and should be
hospitalized before they hurt someone or themselves. Or, we can invite them to
leave and start their own country. I know, I know, they’re too lazy for all
that. A few idiots ruin it for the rest of us.
[‘Idiot,’
by the way, comes from the Old French and Latin word ‘idiota’ meaning ‘ignorant
person.’ Unsurprisingly, the usage of idiot’ has risen exponentially with the advent
of the internet.]
