My ‘online research’ frequently leads me to most futile discoveries and takes me to mind-boggling eye-watering time-wasting extremes. Three hyphenated words in a row is as far as I am willing to go with this, so putting a full stop there, even though I could go on describing the extent of my loitering around the internet’s dustiest, most triviality ridden corners for much longer.
Every now and again it gets so bad that somebody up there in the Cloud clearly feels sorry for me and rewards my pointless pursuit of nothing in particular with a consolation prize for my efforts.
Today, my persistence in eavesdropping on total strangers’ social media discussions (stalking for short), was copiously rewarded with a word of breathtaking beauty!
It made my, otherwise uneventful, day.
Ultracrepidarianism.
Isn’t it just the best word ever? On first glance, it doesn’t sound light years away from Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, but it actually has a proper meaning, and, if you are a linguistic nerd like me, a fantastic etymology to get your teeth into.
It means a habit of offering opinions on matters one knows little or nothing about.
This is, of course, a fundamental principle, the very core of the Internet, and the main reason for its continuing existence, as well as an overarching rule governing the use of social media. I have been rolling it off my tongue just for fun for the better part of the morning. I am happy to share it with you. Next time you get passionately involved in a discussion on a subject which you only have the most tentative grasp of, take comfort in the knowledge that you are not just being a jerk, you are being firmly ultracrepidarian about it as well!
Ania Heasley 