Words and Salad
I'm not sure what came first, but I love reading and enjoy choosing the right word. Bad mixes of words sometimes are referred to as word salad. Hope to avoid that affliction today.
Not so Good — Word Talk — this seems good but maybe boring for you.
Very Good — Middle talk — I am a middle child. Today is about how we learn stuff from the perspective of the middle. While we are fascinated by the edges (the big and small), it all starts in the middle. The too big and too small often become absurd and not particularly instructive
Word Lover — Even Fake Ones are Fun!
Full disclosure, I am a word lover. I love it when a book I’m reading sends me to the dictionary. Grammarly informs me in its weekly report about my word choices in writing. While my vocabulary is pretty good, my tendency to make the same grammatical errors leaves much to be desired. The advanced version will unlock my tone. I know the tone I am aiming for in a given post — I wonder what the AI will think of my results versus my aim. I was inspired to think about the right word by a class I recently completed. One of the videos used the word dogma and invented a new word. The new word made me LAUGH and led me to revisit the word dogma it was inspired by.
Dogma Time
The word dogma has been around for a long time. It is an important word in my estimation. It started as “seem good, think” and evolved into “opinion”. The current definition prevailing is “a principle or set of principles laid down by an authority as incontrovertibly true.” My word of the day has traversed a rollercoaster of meanings. The Oxford dictionary is the source of the image.
While dogma is not an “everyday” word, I think we hear it occasionally. Lots of times it can be associated with religion but it has a MUCH broader application. Our minds are settled when we have core beliefs and a framework upon which to build. I wonder what was going on in 1875 (see graph) to cause dogma to be most popular in that era. It seems to me, someone dogmatic is very sure of themselves it reminds me of a fun word for folks who seems sure of themselves for NO APPARENT REASON. It is sad to me it settled on incontrovertible rather than seeming good, thoughtful, or opinion. Something was lost when we took a perfectly good word and contorted it into absolute and incontrovertible.
What happens when something incontrovertible becomes ‘not so much’? While it is likely the expression predated him, George Box, a statistician, is credited with a wonderful expression:
“All models are wrong, but some are useful.” by George Box
This brings me, finally, to the new word I heard coined. I know Grammarly will flag it, as alas, it is not a recognized word, as yet. My new word for today is catma.
It is a WONDERFUL thing to have defining principles. At some moment in time, based on the prevailing evidence, it might even be considered “incontrovertible”, at least in our heads. Catma was proposed (tongue-in-cheek) as dogma until new evidence emerges. It means to be fluid enough in our thinking to adjust the plan. While I doubt catma enters the dictionary anytime soon, I am destined to have it lie in wait inside my mind when I hear something new which challenges my current beliefs. I like to believe I am rarely dogmatic.
Do I Hear Two?
After I finished this post and had it in the can, I was reading and commenting on a fun Newsletter I enjoy called Risk Musings. In my book, any post that births the word shambolic in the comments is gonna be a fun read! Take a peek at a fun take on risk and its management.
Who Cares About Galaxies & Atoms?
A recurring theme in my writing and consideration in my life is the wonder of the large and fascination with the small. It seems to me there are ample examples of the wonders of our world at the largest scale (thanks to telescopes) and the smallest (thanks to microscopes). Rather than being bothered by the inconsistencies of explanation at these different scales, it seems to me different branches of science will meet in the middle where the rest of us live. For my purposes, the everyday scale is 6’ and 186 pounds. For the metric crowd, that’s 1.83 m and 84 kg. We seem perfectly suited to sort all of this out, and part of the reason is because of our size. It seems it was never likely for the largest or smallest to exploit tools. Ants never managed to make hammers and elephants never built big cars. So my big takeaway, AND JUST MY OPINION, is all of the wonders of our world at the smallest and largest scale were never going to be discovered by a creature not comfortably in the middle. Adaptation to life in the middle requires a lot of adjustment. Adaptation IS LIFE!
Pickle in the Middle
Size is an obsession in so many ways in our world. The size of SUVs and Pickup Trucks are a case in point. There Their scale, nowadays is just comical. My pickup can tow 22,000 pounds. Do you need help moving your garage? A friend, “C”, recently shared his desire for finding larger sweet pickles. He seemed genuinely bothered at the inability to find large sweet pickles. Why can you get large dills but not large sweets? I confess to no insight. We all seem to focus on too big, and too small a lot. Eat two mediums came to mind for me. Some places are just right even when they might seem on the large side of things. Katz’s Deli is not going to start offering large sweet pickles or small sandwiches. I think, when it comes to pickles, it’s safe to assume the offering will continue to be dill pickles. Sometimes, instead of dwelling on too small or too large, enjoy just right. To my friend “C”, pay close to the shots of the dill pickles. Thou shall not covet…
The sandwich at Katz’s Deli is big but not enormous. Quality is the key. There are so many gotta-try foods across America. It seems a shame to me we somehow displaced the search for quality with a march toward gluttony. A Katz corned beef or pastrami seems great even if perhaps enough for two. It has not been RUINED by the stupidity of mega-eating.
I remember an old work colleague carrying on with the merits of the Bubba Keg. He was carrying on about his happiness when his partner purchased him a Bubba Keg of his very own. It was so large and unwieldy that its only utility seemed to be a good doorstop for a heavy door. Every once in a while, I see a rube taking advantage of a “free refill” policy for coffee somewhere and walking out the door with an extra pot of coffee in case he gets thirsty later in the day. What is UNEQUIVOCALLY TRUE is I have NEVER SEEN a woman with a Bubba Keg. If anyone ever does, please take a picture of it out in the wild. I will happily laugh and retract if someone can prove me wrong.
Lots of people have become obsessed with the “big serving” and that seems to miss the point in my estimation. There are even “challenges” which set ever and ever more absurd amounts of food to eat in one sitting. This was personified, of course by the TV Show Man v. Food. What the hell is going on? What is the appeal?
I peeked at the history of Man v. Food. A couple of standouts:
DEC 2008 —Big Texan Challenge (a 4.5-pound steak, a baked potato, a shrimp cocktail, a salad, and a dinner roll)
JAN 2009 — Eagle's Challenge (a 5-pound burger with 20 slices each of bacon and cheese, 5 pounds of fries, and a giant pickle)
NOV 2009 — THE DEGRADATION OF HUMANITY ON FULL DISPLAY The Absolutely Ridiculous Burger (a 190-pound burger topped with 4 pounds of bacon, 3 pounds of tomatoes, 3 whole heads of lettuce, pickles, onions, and 10 pounds of assorted cheeses; 40-person challenge)
None of these approaches, of course, Nathan’s hotdog challenge at Coney Island. This has become a rite of celebration for American Independence Day. Competitive eating fans (yes, that’s a thing) all seem to know Joey Chestnut who has managed to eat 63 hot dogs (and buns) in ten minutes. The pride of NYC and Staten Island I suppose.
None of these gluttony stories are interesting to me, they merely stretch my perspective about the range of human behavior.
Let’s Finish On A High Note
What I fundamentally believe is the middle is the place to be. The edges and extremes destroy relationships, destroy politics, and according to the mass extinctions in the history of the planet, being REAL BIG is not an advantage. Savor the middle. It is where compromise and the means to flourish exists. I’m happy with 6’ tall. I suppose as I continue to shrink as is inevitable for my age, perhaps it’s time to commit to 175 pounds. That works out to a BMI of 23.7. Probably a good plan and right in the middle. For those interested in the dreaded BMI, here you go.
When I ponder the amazing journey w are all on as we uncover nature’s secrets, it is interesting to ponder the role of our relative size. If we were the size of elephants, the outlandish food demands of an apex predator like us would have OVERWHELMED the planet long ago! If you ponder the path from sticks and stones to fire and wheels, if we were the size of mice, the scale would have been ALL WRONG! I love the Geico Commercials that highlight the little gecko especially when he is surrounded by scale dollhouse furniture. It just seems unlikely a super-small version of us, regardless of brain development could rise to the top of the food chain. I continue to claim that Goldilocks was right and we humans, at least in our relative size — just right. I’m guessing that nature has greatly favored us as a result.
The Poll & Music
Since today carries the wonderful merits of the middle, this song was irresistible.
I chose “eat last slice to avoid cleanup” bc it made me laugh. Two really is the ideal but I will typically eat 2.5 and then feel sorry.
I wonder if humans are actually the middle ground when it comes to sizes of life forms on this planet. We may be one hundredth the size of an elephant but on the other end I’d bet we are 10,000 times the size of an ant. I’d guess we are more like 80th percentile. There must be a handy chart of this somewhere...
I really admire your intellectual curiosity, Mark!
I'm surprised "dogma" isn't an older word. But, then, again, I suppose it makes sense that as society became more secular in the 19th century, "dogma" would become more useful.