Word of the Day

Saturday February 20, 2010

sciolism [SY-uh-liz-uhm]

noun

Superficial knowledge; a superficial show of learning. pretentious show of knowledge or learning.

Another toe-curling apostrophic sciolism is the pseudo-plural formed by adding "s" to the singular word -- clearly a result of the great gaps in today's elementary so-called educational standards. I have even seen "Rolls and bread's are fattening," the hapless perpetrator hoping to slither past his/her ignorance by a pretend typo or slip of the pen.

Rick Gall, "The good & pure, plus apostrophes", National Post, Sep 29, 2009
In successive paragraphs, Mr. Joseph can veer from the mildly academic (''sciolism'') to the strained colloquial (''cussedly . . . simpatico''). And it inspires little confidence that almost the first date from his pen -- when he speaks of the ''binding covenant'' that developed between Stravinsky and Balanchine, ''beginning with their initial meeting in 1926'' -- is wrong. As he amply shows, the two worked together extensively in 1925 on ''Le Chant du Rossignol.''

James R. Oestreich, "One Was the Obsessive Genius, and, Oh, So Was the Other One", New York Times, Aug 2, 2002
But as little learning is only dangerous when it forgets that it is little, so specialism is only dangerous when it forgets that it is special. When it encroaches on its betters, when it claims exceptional certainty or honor, it is impertinent, and should be rebuked; but it has its own honor in its own province, and is, in any case, to be preferred to pretentious and flaunting sciolism.

William Ewart Gladstone (1809- 1898) Served four times as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. On Books and the Housing of Them

Origin of the Word

Sciolism, approximately 1615, derives from sciolus,Late Latin "one who knows a little," diminutive of scius "knowing," from scire "to know."