Out and About 20 Isms, Isms, Isms, Say What?

[HKHaugan]

When you leave the Bible anything can happen in a culture especially in language.  ‘Isms’ are the spin we put on a word in order to give it our meaning or support someone else’s meaning.  The following is a parody written with a smile. 

 

Now that we have delved a bit into the meaning of ‘ism’ let’s see what secular academics might come up with.  This is just a personal foray into modern paradigmatic thinking.  Say What?

 

Isms can become a field of study as in ismatology, or just plain ismology, in which you can work from a B.S. to a PhD making it a legitimate university study with departments and their subdivisions.  The study will be undertaken by researchers known as ismatologists or ismologists.  They will write papers describing the causes and effects of ismatic paradigms on psychological, sociological and economic conditions in postmodern cultural settings with an emphasis on stress and distress involving race, gender and ethnic polarity.  Say what?

 

Those who are fascinated by ismatic emotional stimuli become known as ismatics who might even develop a religion known as Ismatianism which will necessitate training of clergy whose study will involve systematic, dogmatic and pastoral ismatology naturally with emphases on systematism, dogmatism and pastoralism.  Its symbol is a big “I” with a small s and m on either side.  Its motto  will be “I Save Myself” (i-s-m, get it?).

 

Those whose emotional involvement carries them into extremes might be suffering from a disorder called ismania thus they are ismaniacs needing therapy to dislodge their ismaniacal tendencies, the most common disorder being narcissism.  Now a whole new field emerges in psychology and psychiatry employing specialists to deal with behavioral ismatism.

 

Take some very good words like commune, secular, social, progressive, liberal, conservative, behavior, ideal, modern, tradition, fundamental, universal, feminine, masculine, human, spiritual, national, etc. (also ismalized to etceteraism) and you have just gobs of potentialismic subjects.  Then we have two major fields under which the isms function, subjectivism (who am I?) and objectivism (who do I think I am?).

 

Linguists will have to be aware that a new language will arise out of this novel fascination.  They in turn will be known as linguistismaticians.  Old words will have new potential in something called wordism.  A new syntax brings us verbalism, adjectivism, nounism, and so on until language itself becomes a total ismatic experience or shall we say exismentialism that then invites a new hippyism lost in experientialism where poets and folk singers gather in coffeehousism expressing themselves in demonstrationism, communalism and Woodstockism.  Political parties wrapped in politicism will spring up where wingism shapes into rightism and leftism which will seek representionism.  Activismists will picket local councils to demand their civilismatistic rightsism.  Societism paralyzismetizes into ismotismic reflexism and fatalismic embalmism due to ismiosis causing cardiofailurism as a result of ismismatism.  Yikesism!  Euphemismic finalism.  Say whatism???????