Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Suddenly Enlightened On The Opposite of Epiphany!

You will, I hope, recall that I had a brief obsession with discovering what word would serve as an antonym for "Epiphany".  I invited your coinage and lexicographic inventiveness. Well, a couple of days ago, I got an authoritative answer from an honest-to-God Educator.  We're talking about a guy with actual credentials!

According to Michael Sheehan, the word I was looking for is: Epycalyptry [ep´-ee-cal-ip´-tree], "deliberate concealment from self or resistance to insight".

I think it's a fine word and I'll certainly champion its use...if I can remember it without having to search my blog again every time I need it!

Note:  I think this new information is especially timely, given my realization on Sunday that I've been purposely shielding myself from knowledge of what's going on in the world.  Is there any contradiction in the fact that I'm perfectly happy to have a new word in my verbal database that describes my refusal to learn anything new?  I think not!

2 comments:

Janiece said...

I totally love that word. Love, love, love.

Nathan said...

I'm actually wondering if we can come up with a verb form for it...as in subjecting someone to ignorance? This word has WIN all over it!