The Whippet #121: Just trying to be the best lizard I can be
thewhippet.substack.com
Two Greek words for ‘fear’ (which I wish we had), the best icy pole in the world, top-notch lizard news, the earliest person whose name we know, there are a lot of extremely cute international terms for ‘hamster’, why not make a list? And some unsolicited advice
In other hamster related terminology: “Hamsterkauf” (n. “hamster buying”) in German means to panic-buy and then hoard supplies, something that happened here even before COVID. I first encountered it in 2017 when the Federal Office for Civil Protection and Disaster Aid issued a recommendation that all households have at least two weeks’ supply of food in the house at all times, and that caused a run on things like flour and tinned food and everyone on Twitter was making puns about how many hamsters they’d bought.
You have it yourself in the response below: 'dread' is (I think) based on something that's going to happen and won't be pleasant. Also 'apprehension', though that has more uncertainty in it. Always love talking about words.
There's something satisfying about the thought that the first person whose name we know wasn't a ruler, or nobility, but just an ordinary person who made beer.
I've never really thought about needing separate words for rational fear and irrational fear, but I can see why that would be useful. I sometimes wish we had separate words for deliberate and unintentional lies. If someone believes what they are saying is true but it isn't, that is a very different thing to deliberately trying to decieve someone with a lie, so it would be nice if we could call it something else.
This is so fascinating. I suppose a follow-up question would be: How do we become more accurate in our predictions of future unpleasantness? I know there are experiences for which the anticipation is always excruciating, and the experience itself is often pleasant (e.g. major gatherings, cold showers), yet no matter how many times I do the activity, my conception of the event in my mind does not recalibrate.
In other hamster related terminology: “Hamsterkauf” (n. “hamster buying”) in German means to panic-buy and then hoard supplies, something that happened here even before COVID. I first encountered it in 2017 when the Federal Office for Civil Protection and Disaster Aid issued a recommendation that all households have at least two weeks’ supply of food in the house at all times, and that caused a run on things like flour and tinned food and everyone on Twitter was making puns about how many hamsters they’d bought.
You have it yourself in the response below: 'dread' is (I think) based on something that's going to happen and won't be pleasant. Also 'apprehension', though that has more uncertainty in it. Always love talking about words.
There's something satisfying about the thought that the first person whose name we know wasn't a ruler, or nobility, but just an ordinary person who made beer.
I've never really thought about needing separate words for rational fear and irrational fear, but I can see why that would be useful. I sometimes wish we had separate words for deliberate and unintentional lies. If someone believes what they are saying is true but it isn't, that is a very different thing to deliberately trying to decieve someone with a lie, so it would be nice if we could call it something else.
This is so fascinating. I suppose a follow-up question would be: How do we become more accurate in our predictions of future unpleasantness? I know there are experiences for which the anticipation is always excruciating, and the experience itself is often pleasant (e.g. major gatherings, cold showers), yet no matter how many times I do the activity, my conception of the event in my mind does not recalibrate.