The Devil's Mathematical Dictionary

Inspired by a comment in today's presentation, my new goal is to write a mathematics paper that uses the "Feeling" environment.

(This, in turn, inspired the present document. I decided to do this in a style akin to that of the Devil's Dictionary.) pic.twitter.com/UzpWKjQRRV

— Mason Porter (@masonporter) December 7, 2019

New Word Proposal: "Scientificially"

I asked a student if a paper draft of mine passes muster with her "scientificially".

It was just a typo, but I may have to adopt this as a new word for when somebody does something artificial in science.

Example usage: "Those data were estimated scientificially to follow a power law."

Is it Wrong to Publish in the Journal Complicity?

Note: There need not be anything inherently wrong with publishing a paper in the journal Complicity, despite its name.

The Derivator

Algebraist: "You don't want the full definition of derivator. It would take five journal pages."

Me [after conversation about this continues among others for a bit]: "I think it would be fine to have a five-page article for the definition as long as it includes a picture of The Terminator."

Classic Word of the Day: Psychoceramics

Today's word is one of the all-time classics:

Psychoceramicist [n]: someone who studies crackpottery. (And, of course, "psychoceramics" is a synonym for "crackpottery".)

(This word is based on longstanding discussions with Arcane Gazebo, who as far as I can tell is the inventor of the word. He doesn't practice psychoceramics, though. He's got a physics PhD and works in finance. Oh wait... :P)

Update: I have a Facebook comment from the Gazebo that reminds me about his blog post about psychoceramics, which explains how he found out about the word. I also have an e-mail from Cosma Shalizi with two websites that I assume either are or have the origins of the word contained therein. This one is an old blog post of his, and this one is an entire archive about pyschoceramics. So, no, the Gazebo did not invent the word. By the way, this brings back memories that the Gazebo used to (or maybe still does?) read Cosma's blog, which perhaps brings things back full circle?

Exclusivity

I wish people would stop using the term "exclusive" as if it were a good thing. I'm not sure whether to "grrrrrr" or "sighhhh" ( ... he says from his perch at Oxford).