There is a Word for it.
With the largest vocabulary of any language, in English we have a word
to describe almost everything. And when we can't find one, we're happy
to borrow from another language (from German: schadenfreude, pleasure at
others' misfortune), or just make one up (petrichor, the pleasant smell
of rain after a dry spell).
Having said that, let's not gloat over how many words we have. English's
poverty shows in many places, for example, when it comes to words to
describe relations. How useful is it to introduce the woman with you
as your sister-in-law when the term could mean any number of things?
This week we visit a few terms that make one say, "I didn't know there
was a word for it!" We start with:
accismus (ak-SIZ-muhs) noun
Feigning disinterest in something while actually desiring it.
[From Greek akkismos (coyness or affectation).]
If you've ever uttered something resembling any of these expressions,
you've practiced the fine art of accismus:
"Oh, you shouldn't have done it."
or
"Thank you, but I'm not worthy of such an honor."
Accismus is showing disinterest in something while secretly wanting it.
It's a form of irony where one pretends indifference and refuses something
while actually wanting it. In Aesop's fable, the fox pretends he doesn't
care for the grapes. Caesar, in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, is reported
as not accepting the crown.
-Anu Garg (gargATwordsmith.org)
"A woman uses no figure of eloquence -- her own, at most, excepted -- so
often as that of accismus."
Jean Paul Richter; Levana (translation); 1889. (Cited in the OED)
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............................................................................
Laws too gentle are seldom obeyed; too severe, seldom executed. -Benjamin
Franklin, statesman, author, and inventor (1706-1790)
Discuss this week's theme or words at our online bulletin board:
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Pronunciation:
http://wordsmith.org/words/accismus.wav
http://wordsmith.org/words/accismus.ram
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