We have previously noted that, while the term ‘idiotarianism’ has several obvious disadvantages, we occasionally have to use it because there is no alternative with the same meaning in common use.
Now, a reader of Woty Freeman's blog, Kolya Wolf, has suggested a new term to replace ‘idiotarianism’, namely villepinism (and ‘villepinist’ to replace ‘idiotarian’),
after the current French foreign minister, Dominique de Villepin.
A few notes on this proposal:
- We think the word should begin with a lower-case ‘v’ because de Villepin was not the originator of villepinism, only a prominent exponent. We capitalize ‘Stalinism’ and ‘Thatcherism’, but not ‘quisling’ or ‘boycott’.
- It is ‘villepinism’ and not ‘villepinisme’ because it is an English word. The French translation might well be ‘villepinisme’.
- Recall our definition: “systematically siding with evil without actually adopting the evildoers’ objectives” and then look at this description of current French foreign policy.
What do our readers think?
UPDATE: Do you think we need a new word for “idiotarian”? Vote in our poll.
