Word of the Day

[mathhobbit]

Verisimilitude

The more I think about it, the more I'm disturbed by a word meaning "seems like it's probably true".  As a scientist, I don't want to admit that intuition is so closely linked to acceptance as fact.

Yesterday's word was Lagniappe, which doesn't have the origins I would have expected.

Comments

[firstfrost]

Hmm. That's an interesting objection, but it seems to me like it's related more to "realistic" than "true". That is, I want my fiction to have realistic characters, or my art to look like realistic thingies. But I don't mistake it for truth, usually? Well, hmm, maybe I do. It probably plays into my ability to distinguish between truth and fiction (or the Washington Post article and the Onion article). Which maybe is the heart of your objection too. :-\

[desireearmfeldt]

"Merely corroborative detail intended to add verisimilitude to an otherwise bald and unconvincing narrative..."

[firstfrost]

Hah! I thought to myself "that sounds familiar but I can't place it". So I googled it, as one does, and found the book Dead in the Water, which I had not read (as far as I can recall), so that was interesting. But clicking through, it turns out that a character in this book misquotes The Mikado with the same edit that you did!

I add this as, I suppose, a bit more corroborative detail to the digression. :)

[desireearmfeldt]

Bah, they'll have to revoke my G&S license now.

When I started reading your comment, I thought it was gonna be Daniel Abraham all over again! But if it's a character quoting Mikado, that's okay. :)

[mathhobbit]

Yeah, connotation makes a lot of difference and I'm not quite sure what it is. I was thinking Onion vs. Washington Post.

[kelkyag]

Verisimilitude vs. truthiness?

There's a difference between trying to be plausible and trying to pass to something off as truth.