'Solastalgia' the Next Liberal Buzzword

Bob McCarty Writes ^ | 4-26-10 | Bob McCarty

[BobMcCartyWrites]

Just in time for heated debate over proposed cap and trade legislation, solastalgia will become the next liberal buzzword to enter the American vocabulary.

[BobMcCartyWrites]

Remember when the word, gravitas, entered the public conversation for the first time? Well, stay tuned, because solastalgia is next.

A rarely-used 131-year-old word at the time, according to Merriam-Webster, gravitas was introduced en masse to the American vocabulary by members of the liberal media within 24 hours of President George W. Bush's selection of Dick Cheney to be his vice presidential running mate in July 2000. Almost always used with negative connotations, it was used to describe what "W" was said to lack in terms of experience and what he needed in a running mate. Rush Limbaugh even devoted a segment of his radio show to the mainstream media's "discovery" of the word.

Eight years after its introduction, gravitas was declared dead and, for almost two years, nothing had surfaced to take its place in the American vocabulary. Then solastaliga arrived just in time for heated debate to begin on Capitol Hill about the so-called "Cap and Trade" legislation.

Solastalgia is a new word that appears in a recently-released report (see Sec. 1, page 38) from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Interagency Working Group on Climate Change and Health. It's defined as "place-based distress caused by the effects of climate change due to involuntary migration or the loss of connection to one's home environment."

Despite the fact that, according to Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), climate change is the “greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people”, I predict members of the mainstream media will begin using it soon -- and with fervor -- as if it has existed since the beginning of time.

Despite the fact that Merriam-Webster's online dictionary doesn't even list the word, I predict it will become as mainstream as gravitas during the next few years.

Stay tuned for solastalgia.

[dblshot]

I think I have had my Quantum of Solastalgia already thank you.

[steelyourfaith]

 

Beam me to Planet Gore !

[afraidfortherepublic]

Ping for interesting word to save.

[tioga]

Thanks.

[agere_contra]

At least gravitas is a real word.

[sniper63]

"At least gravitas is a real word."

Made up words for a make believe science.......

[downtownconservative]

sol/sols: prefix meaning of or relating to the sun; solar

L. solstitium: point at which the sun seems to stand still/solstice

algia: suffix denoting “pain,” from Gk. algos “pain,” algein “to feel pain,” of unknown origin.

Solast-algia: Sun caused pain? Seems a bit counter-intuitive to the “warmer” point of view that completely disregards the sun as the main ingredient of a warming earth.

[Vigilanteman]

Long before "climate change" became the rage, I had a friend who worked for Kodak in Rochester, N.Y. and told me the general lack of sunshine in that environment was thought responsible for a large number of depression related illnesses. Kodak and some of the other big employers there even had employee longues which beamed in artificial sunshine which did a reasonable job of simulating the real thing.

Pittsburgh still has a law on the books here which makes it illegal to sell a rope to a Dutchman on a cloudy day. Even though Pittsburgh has more sunshine than Rochester, there was a time that it seemed like a whole lot less due to all the smokestacks from the steel industry.

The point is that increased sunshine and warming is actually closely linked to improved health in some environments.

[agere_contra]

Good analysis, but pain relating to the sun would be Sol-algia anyway.

For Solast-algia to be a real word would require the prefix “Solast-” to mean something, which it does not.

This is more monkey-grammar from the left - the same people who made up extraordinarily lame Shakespeare quotes to attack President Bush.

[mikrofon]

I'm not sure about this word, but with Obama's pre-eminence we've all been suffering from Sorostalgia...

[ml/nj]

Merriam-Webster's online dictionary doesn't even list the word

It's not in the Oxford English Dictionary (2nd Ed) either.

ML/NJ

[Uri’el-2012]

Glenn Albrecht

[Cyber Ninja]

Ooo, Ooo; I’ve got one...

0topia, pronounced Ze’ro-pia (silent ‘t’).

An ideal community or society where all, but a few, get zero, zilch, nada.

[Noumenon]

Leave it to libs to invent a whole new victim class.

[Erasmus]

Pittsburgh still has a law on the books here which makes it illegal to sell a rope to a Dutchman on a cloudy day.

Particularly if was shaped into a noose.

≤}B^)

[Old Professer]

Looks like it has been over three years in the making:

http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~content=a785672112&db=all