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NEOLOOGIES

The neologism manuever can
be effective at simplifying
an argument.
          
Consider 
                                                            
  Thomas Sowell's                       UNCONSTRAINED                     
  "constrained/unconstrained"
                                                                      
  Virgina Postrel's                              
  "dynamicist/staticist"
                                                 
If they'd stuck to more conventional labels    
like "conservative/liberal/libertarian" then           
they'd be off in a morass of quibbling about 
exceptions, and explaining away inconvenient    
details.  Everything would have to be                    
heavily qualified: "People of category X    
*have a tendency* to act like Y, though it    
does appear that some sub-categories of X      
show a different pattern..."                
                     
     Though there are risks to neologism:       
     awkward terminology can be a barrier
     to understanding; it can make you   
     sound like an irrelevant eccentric. 
                                         
     Another risk: descent into tautology.
     What I am saying is relevant only to
     this new category I've invented.  If
     you find a problem, I'll claim      
     you're just talking about a         
     different category.  My category is 
     by definition the set of things for 
     which whatever I say is true.       
                                         
                                         
                          
        But by all means use           
        your own terms.             You know all      
                                    too well where
        Even if they end            the others     
        up fuzzy and                have been.    
        ill-defined, they                         
        can't be any worse                        
        than the others.    
                                  


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