In Defense Of Esoteric Language
to Based Protopian Sigmas
Online discourse teems with lively new expressions, suffixes and labels.
Bioleninism with Dengoist characteristics. E/acc. Postrats. Cathedral. Protopia.
These are neologisms created faster than anything before. There are some who despise what they do not understand. These words function as shibboleths, degreeblers and lines of flight. They are essential components of the online sphere. I’ve had a few homes, and the terminally online community is one of them. Constantly chipped away by bans, we live, laugh and love on the graveyard of 20 million anime avis.
Press F to pay respects.
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3 Functions of esoteric language
Shibboleth - these names create twitter culture. With physique photos rare, memes copied, it is text that shows who we are. And the nature of shibboleths as ingroup signals makes them prone to leakage. Once wider community knows about a term, its internal use always changes and sometimes ceases- anyway, a new shibboleths is known.
Degreebling - new words give us a more tangible way to operate with concepts. Increased mental efficiency, better thought, better action.
Line of flight - How really do you want to make new things, test old things is new conditions and all other things that need doing with old thinking? Your esoteric group chat needs some cool phrases to look and feel unique. Discord servers with identity. All of these give a new label to affiliate, and circulate to find a good place to be.
Critique 1 - It’s just smokescreen! It’s all sophistry & eristics
Show me your great collection of writings that you’ve made without any new words.
Critique 2 - What about obscuration of meaning? If it is true, it can be said with old words.
SEO and other marketing needs create lots of annoying lingo for products. But selling writing is less problematic than selling many products, so if anything gets a pass, it’s writing.
But what’s even more important - you can’t say the same thing in different words. Luna is different from Moon. Borges wrote about this.
Critique 3: What about [REDACTED] shoving their newspeak down my throat?!
I haven’t said it before, but a new word makes sense when it aligns with pre-existing feelings / associations about the phonemes it had, some family resemblance.
The 3 functions above were for the benefit of a community around it, or a singular user. Shoving newspeak is a thing that can happen only between communities. It’s a power move and disrespect. It doesn’t fill any of these functions.
Critique 4: NO, you can’t just make up new wor(l)ds!
New word creation is just another language game. And THE OLDEST of all language games. We can go ever as far as to say that language games have the complex part - new word creation and the trivial part - repetition.
Linguistic fascism is not ok. In fact the real Italian fascists of the 20s were enamored with new words.
Nature is not a finished product. Neither is our language.
What about using an old word in a new context? Capital originated in counting the heads of cattle. Cathedral is a modern example. And it fits the family-resemblance. It’s a big thing that you can’t see all sides of at a time. It’s a long lasting thing. It’s connected to high devotion and piety.
Personal exception
I hate the ‘chud’. English isn’t good at handling such small changes to words.
chud vs chad
C’mon, try pasting both into a phonetic pronouncer. It’s the same. All confusion to me.
based and pill-pilled