You may have realised by now that I have an affection for words; actually it’s more of a mania and the headline word is one that I have seen in certain economic papers but (and this is a guess) is probably only known by about 0.01% of the English-speaking world – which for me makes it an even more remarkable word and therefore worthy of my interest.
Perhaps the fact that I have seen it in an article on economics gives a certain clue to its meaning. In fact, I become extremely discombobulated by two types of people (or rather two professions).
The first group are economists (no surprise there), since they aim to a) understand what is happening to us ‘small people’ by using often contradicting theories and analyses to prove the same thing and b) cannot agree amongst themselves not only where we are but also how we got here and how we get out of where we are!
The second group are “professional” politicians (no surprise there, either). Have you ever heard a mainstream politician give a straight answer to a straight question, because I haven’t. Have you ever heard of a politician who, having promised you everything in order to be elected, actually delivered, because I haven’t.
So, we, the small people, are constantly discombobulated by two groups who profess to have the skills and knowledge to guide us towards......what? Do we need such people? Probably yes, but their power (authority) over us must be kept under control through approparite and adequate checks and balances.
Until next time (and keeping out of the way of both groups),
Peripatetic Scribe
(to discombobulate – to confuse, upset or bewilder an individual)
Beautiful, P.S. I have never come across this word before but it great and the explanation is super. Now I know it, I am no longer discombobulated!!!
ReplyDeleteAn amazing word. I read somewhere it is used mostly in Canadian and American English and that it is colloquial, but perhaps that is not true, as the source might have been unreliable. I agree with you completely. I am always discombobulated by these two groups of people and I think I always will be!
ReplyDeleteA great blog post, P.S.!
Lucana
Thanks Lucana. The earliest date I can find for this amazing word is from an American dictionary dating from 1824. I'm sure there are legions of people who feel exactly the same as you!
ReplyDeleteA very interesting word. If you ever read the "Economist" magazine, you will find that one particular writer uses this quite often in his analysis.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Anonymous. I guess you are in UK if you are an "Economist" reader who can identify such a trend! Yes, you are right; this is where I recently found the word.
ReplyDelete