"OH, THAT SORITICISM!"

The writer has been blessed with a good many very intelligent and informed friends (and a bright wife), therefore it behooves him to continue his own pursuit of ideas and excellence to hopefully keep up with them. That being said, here is a cute little story.

In my correspondence, there are two particular gentlemen who LOVE WORDS and their meanings perhaps more than most people. One is a brilliant economist who has been interviewed on national television. Yes, I watched it!! Anyway, recently I sent him two words from one of my very favorite books, "Between Silk and Cyanide" by Leo Marks; the words were "incunabula" and "soriticism."

He wrote back," I found the first one, but not the second so I guess I am a half-scholar." I replied: "Now soriticism I had to search and it is as obvious as the nose on your face, and when you find out what it means...you will kick yourself. Definition--a polysyllogism in which the premises are arranged so that intermediate conclusions are omitted, being understood.

An example given by author Marks, 'If you say a man with one hair is bald, then a man with ten thousand hairs is ten thousand times as bald.' " "So," I said, "if you really knew it all the time, then you are really not a half-scholar but a whole
one!"

He wrote back: "OH, THAT SORITICISM!"

(Mil's Place: Look for coming attractions--"Tomatoes, Part Two"; "Antarctica"; "I'm My Own Grandpa/Totally Removed"; "Where'd You Get the Cowboy?"; and "You're Standing on My Oxygen Hose." Many thanks for your comments, O WONDERFUL READERS!)

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