gimlet-eyed

gimlet-eyed... [gim'-lit - eyed].... adj.

Having keen vision. adj.
—The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Ed.

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With penetrating eyes: having eyes that seem to penetrate or pierce, or to notice everything. adj.
—Encarta World English Dictionary, North American Edition

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COMMENTS

The phrase gimlet-eyed is worthy of careful study, not only for its flexibility in being able to spin out multiple meanings from its core meaning of "having penetrating eyes," but also for its powers as a figure of speech, a metaphor, powers that make the multiple meanings possible.

A figure of speech is a word or phrase that is a variation from what the reader expects, either in the order of the words or in the meaning of the words. Variations in word order are called schemes; variations in meaning are called tropes. (Gimlet-eyed is a not scheme. Therefore we will pass over it, except to say that the sentence "Fierce Susan eyed the intruder into a gimlet-stung stupor" is a scheme called inversion, a rearrangement of non-schematic "Fierce Susan gimlet-eyed the intruder into a stung stupor.")

Gimlet-eyed is a metaphor, a trope in which words from different domains (gimlet from the domain of human tools and eyes from the domain of human physiology) are put into an unexpected juxtaposition, challening the reader to discover how they are somehow similar.

Note that we are not speaking, here, of gimlet-the-beverage, i.e."a cocktail made with vodka or gin, sweetened lime juice, and sometimes effervescent water and garnished with a slice of lime" (American Heritage Dictionary).

Nor are we interested in "gimlet-eyed," which is playfully defined in the Urban Dictionary of American Slang as a reference to

an aging or world-weary barfly with eyes the color of a gin gimlet, or one who has consumed too many gin gimlets. "I do believe that gimlet-eyed gent has soiled himself."—urban dictionary.com, from contributor Joe Bone, Mar. 16, 2005.

Rather, our target is gimlet-the-tool.

Here we go:

gimlet [gim’lit]

Noun
1. A small hand tool having a spiraled shank, a screw tip, and a cross handle and used for boring holes.

Verb, transitive
To penetrate with or as if with a gimlet.

Adj.
Having a penetrating or piercing quality: gimlet eyes.
Inflected forms:
gim·let·ed, gim·let·ing, gim·lets

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Now that we know that a gimlet is a simple, spiral-shaped rod, with a handle at one end for turning and applying force, and a sharp point at the other for penetrating permeable material, we can begin to understand the full potential of our heretofore seemingly simple term, gimlet eyed.

To understand how gimlet-eyed can produce a plurality of nuanced meanings, we must understand its form as a metaphor, a figure of speech comprising two interacting elements: (1) a term to be enhanced, called the tenor, and (2) the "vendible" term which supplies the traits that will enhance the tenor.

In our metaphor, eyes is the tenor and gimlet the vehicle. The reader's action is to select traits that belong to gimlet and apply them to, or map them upon, the eyes, thereby giving eyes added meaning and effect.

Put another way, that which a gimlet can do physically, eyes can do metaphorically.

Thus far we have looked at how three current, reputable dictionaries have defined gimlet-eyed:

American Heritage:
Having keen vision.

Encarta:
With penetrating eyes: having eyes that seem to penetrate or pierce, or to notice everything—Encarta World English Dictionary, North American Edition

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having keen vision adj.—The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Ed.

The lexicographers at American Heritage transfered the quality of keenness from the end-point and applied it to the eye's capability of providing vision and as if by magic we have "having keen vision." Simple enough, isn't it. But in my view, too simple.

In a dictionary as sophistcated and comprehensive as the AM He, one would exect more of the traits associated with the gimlet — penetration, precision, efficiency (to name just three) to appear as metaphorically apt qualities of vision.













2.


A quick way to understand the current nuances of "gimlet-eyed" is to read the Oxford American Writer's Thesaurus for the term synonyms from "sharp-eyed":

Sharp-eyed: observant, perceptive, eagle-eyed, hawk-eyed, gimlet-eyed; watchful, vigilant, alert, on the lookout

To the OAWT's list, I'd add these intellectual traits: penetrating, insightful, thorough.

SYNONYMS

sharp-eyed

The Oxford American Writers Thesaurus; 33 Words sharp-eyed • adjective a sharp-eyed witness contacted the police synonyms : observant, perceptive, eagle-eyed, hawk-eyed, gimlet-eyed; watchful, vigilant, alert, on the lookout; informal beady-eyed.

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Gimlet-eyed as defined in the 19th. century

In 20th. and 21st. century usage, gimlet-eyed is a hyphenated compound (as gimlet-eyed readers of this posting may have already observed), whereas in the past it was not, appearing, instead, as two words, as you shall see in the citation immediately below from E. Cobham Brewer's compendious Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, which was is publication during the years 1810-1897:

Gimlet Eye (g hard) A squinting eye; strictly speaking, "an eye that wanders obliquely," jocosely called a "piercer." (Welsh, cwim, a movement round; cwimlaw, to twist or move in a serpentine direction.

Thus the "strict" 19th. century meaning of gimlet eye—an eye that "wanders obliquely"—was out-foxed in the 20th. century by the meaning Brewer had identified as "jocose," a term which the OED tells us is "[o]f the nature of a joke, or characterized by jokes; spoken, written, or done in joke; playful in style or character."

Speaking of matters jocose, Jeffrey Kacirk, in his deck of instructional cards titled Forgotten English Knowledge cards, recounts a decidedly jocose tale to illustrate the meaning of gimlet-eyed:

gimlet-eyed: Adjective for a sharp-sighted and inquisitive nineteenth-century person, derived from the name of an old piercing tool. A gimlet-eyed Saxon taylor named Tom was involved in a famous legend involving the lord of Coventry, who subjected his people to merciless taxation. His wife, Lady Godiva, pleaded on their behalf. Her husband joked that he would lower the taxes if she rode throughhe streets of Coventry unclothed. To his surprise, she did so, after asking the locals to close their shutters and stay indoors during her excursion. All complied except the taylor, who was remembered as Peeping Tom.

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WHO HAS GIMLET EYES?

Joan Didion

Reeling from the sudden death of her husband, novelist John Gregory Dunne, and the life-threatening illness of her only daughter, the literary lioness [Joan Didion] canonized for her cool, gimlet-eyed view of the world discovered she’d gone temporarily “crazy” from grief. Writing her heart-rending memoir of loss and mourning, The Year of Magical Thinking (Knopf, 2005), was her road back to sanity.--

Dropping By: Writing to Live AARP – March and April, 2007 Mark Matousek

To put the question more precisely, who in some writer's view has eyes that seemingly penetrate like gimlets or, by analogy, who has shown gimlet-eyed perception of how certain domains of life as we know it that is penetrating, precise, or insightful? To get some sense of who might be described as being gimlet eyed , I scanned scan roughly 300 Google hits for the word "gimlet-eyed," and found the following

George Bush
President Bush's steadfastness in battling forces that would destroy our way of life, and his gimlet-eyed recognition that international terrorism is primarily a military rather than a criminal-justice problem, are his most alluring assets.—Andrew C.McCarthy National Review Online November 13, 2003,

John Kerry
The granite-jawed, gimlet-eyed face beneath the VFW hat festooned with unit badges looked ready in an instant to swing a mean left hook. But Kerry's shadow man had only one arm and no legs. It was Max Cleland—Bruce Shapiro posted January 29, 2004 The Nation

Robert De Niro's character in the film "Meet the Parents"
Another actor might have mugged, stomped, spit and steamed from the ears. De Niro plays the suspicious father -- who has a secret life of his own -- for nuance. He's gimlet-eyed. He broods. He throws little sidelong glances. His moods range from a pained smile to tight-lipped disgust Bob Graham, Chronicle Senior Writer, Friday, October 6, 2000, SF Chronicle

Barak Obama
With just a few words about Pakistan today, Barack Obama transforms himself from a calculating, gimlet-eyed realist into a swaggering, steely-eyed Bushie.Which in turn transforms all those swaggering, steely-eyed Bushies into calculating.. ... Which in turn transforms all those swaggering, steely-eyed Bushies into calculating, gimlet-eyed Realists.-- Wednesday, August 1Blogrunner, Jonathan Blogoland

Dick Cheney
"wholesomeness doesn't really suit Chaney's gimlet-eyed intensity."-- 1998 Christopher Clotworthy, Silent film sources

Hogwart Witch

Gimlet-eyed witch* with a stout birch-rod-like wand - a portrait of this former headmistress of Hogwarts hangs in the Headmaster/mistress's office (OP22).--By Wendy Zellner-- MARCH 3, 2003—Business Week

*McGonagall, Minerva - she became the headmistress of Hogwarts when Dumbledore died (HBP29). m Mugglenet’s Harry Potter Encyclopedia—www.mugglenet.com

Arturo Toscanini
"Toscanini - gimlet eyed and full of insinuation and menacing drive..." Jonathan Woolf - MusicWeb International-- Arturo Toscanini. Music for Freedom Concert-- www.guildmusic.co------

Andy Griffith
"Andy Griffith--good God, you may have forgotten what a gimlet-eyed, stealthy delight the man is--shows up as Old Joe, the diner's owner, negotiating a seemingly beyond-hokey arc from curmudgeon to Jenna's spiritual adviser."—5/23/2007-- Ian Grey— www.citypaper.com/-- Review: Waitress directed by Adrienne Shelly

Richard Nixon
Lyndon was fun, but Billy Graham found his true soul mate in the gimlet-eyed little quaker from California. “There is no American I admire more than Richard Nixon,” he said.-- www.terrybisson.com-- Published in American Monsters, Nation Books, 2005

Jaime Lee Curtis
"Born to Hollywood luminaries Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh in 1958, Curtis has been in the glare of celebrity throughout her life, and it has given her a gimlet-eyed view of fame."-- Psychology Today Last Updated: October 11, 2002-- health.yahoo.co

Walt Whitman
"For Schmidgall, researching his Whitman biography, the biggest surprise in the Traubel material was “how pungent in expressing his dislikes, and capable of gimlet-eyed scorn, Whitman was—and also discovering his wry sense of humor. It was widely thought in his day that he lacked a sense of humor—a theory that Leaves of Grass, some might say, makes thoroughly plausible!”-- Cynthia Haven—Stanford magazine—Sept. Oct. 2001

Evelyn Waugh
"But there has always existed a small coterie of male writers who share the preoccupations of the novel of manners: the gimlet-eyed Evelyn Waugh, the underappreciated British writer Henry Green and, in our own time, Louis Auchincloss, who carries aloft the banner of the old guard.-- Louis Begley. Saturday, September 1, 2007 NYT

Office Receptionists

TREND
Still Gracious, Now Gimlet-Eyed

Remember the days when receptionists answered phones and fetched coffee? Now they've become front-line troops in the war against terrorism.

Across the country, thousands of receptionists are being sent off to various workshops that teach them how to increase security at their companies' front doors. The National Seminars Group's one-day Security Essentials for Front Desk Professionals, for example, includes how to "spot holes in security in your reception area" (such as subdued lighting and blockable exits) and identifying "red flag" behaviors. That means visitors who avoid eye contact or are vague about their intentions. Seminar execs say interest in their workplace-violence training, picked up after September 11. Participants are "more concerned about planned threats," says curriculum director John Carey. So far, though, there's no instruction on how to duct tape your office.

Which words like to "partner" in a sentence with "gimlet-eyed"?

Think of "Gimlet-eyed" as a verbal equivalent of Ginger Rogers. As she sashaying alone into a lively ball room, we immediately appreciate Ms. Rogers feminine beauty and her graceful gait. We appreciate her for her own essence, we might say. But as soon as she engages in dance with a nearby, eager-to-dance fellow—say, a fellow over there named Fred Astair, I believe—well, then we see her terpsichorical grace and dynamism extended and engaged with the grace and dynamism of Mr. Astair—and everyone in the room stops dancing to watch them dance.

In like manner, we value gimlet-eyed for what it is: a compact, memorable metaphor in which the gimlet is identified with the human eye. The qualities of the gimlet—its power to penetrate resistant matter, capability of providing a fresh line of sight, and delivering results with graceful efficiency—are transfered to the functions of the human eye, now significantly enhanced. All of these palpable qualities can be easily attached to abstractions such as
thorough, gimlet-eyed, superbly told story PRECISECRITICAL

Here, rendered in bold print, are characteristics embedded in gimlet-eyed that writers access to make a point:

THOROUGH
his gimlet-eyed analysis of Melville’s hard-to-decipher manuscript

PRECISION
his thorough, gimlet-eyed, superbly told story
his gimlet-eyed memoir
gimlet-eyed acuity
gimlet-eyed analysis

THOROUGH
gimlet-eyed view

SIMPLE ACTION
gimlet-eyed focus
gimlet-eyed watch
look (often)
gimlet-eyed approach
gimlet-eyed view
novels which look gimlet-eyed at the future
gimlet-eyed scrutiny
gimlet-eyed perception
gimlet-eyed recognition
study,

ATTITUDE
gimlet-eyed satirical humor
gimlet-eyed assessments
gimlet-eyed power-play
gimlet-eyed self-preservation I
gimlet-eyed deconstruction of social morays
gimlet-eyed demands
gimlet-eyed vigilance
gimlet-eyed parody
gimlet-eyed knack for nightmarish extrapolation
gimlet-eyed instinctsgimlet-eyed assessments
gimlet eyed interrogation
a bracing, gimlet-eyed sobriety
see the world in gimlet-eyed simplicity
Judge's gimlet-eyed knack for nightmarish extrapolation
gimlet-eyed authority
gimlet-eyed scorn,
gimlet eyed determination—a blogger
gimlet-eyed charmer
gimlet-eyed rules
gimlet-eyed humor
gimlet-eyed wit

MENTAL MODE OR PROCESS
gimlet-eyed observations
gimlet-eyed comparisons
gimlet-eyed comparison
gimlet-eyed cleverness
gimlet-eyed intelligence
gimlet-eyed instincts
gimlet-eyed and hilarious essay
demands,

PHILOSOPHY
gimlet-eyed worldview
gimlet-eyed pragmatism
gimlet-eyed optimism
gimlet-eyed world-weariness
gimlet-eyed realism
a gimlet eyed look at contemporary culture
Zoe looked at me gimlet-eyed—adv
view scrutiny focus often

MODES OF EXPRESSION
gimlet-eyed descriptions
gimlet-eyed advice
gimlet-eyed erudition
gimlet-eyed images
gimlet-eyed appraisal
observation, depiction
gimlet-eyed survey
description scrutiny
gimlet-eyed approach
was quickly rebuffed with a gimlet-eyed "We're expecting someone!


There are . . .
gimlet-eyed readers, witnesses, inspectors, contestants, lawyers, moralists, reporters, buffo0ns, harpies, assassins

Deutsch Englisch
mit scharfem Blick gimlet-eyed
mit stechenden Augen gimlet-eyed

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Gimlet and gimlet-eyed, as explained in the Oxford English Dictionary:

gimlet....[gim’-lit]....noun
1. a. A kind of boring-tool

The earliest citation of gimlet in the OED offers us, in fact, a definition of the term:

Gimlet, or perhaps more properly Gimblet, a piece of steel of a semi-cylindrical form, hollow on one side, having a cross handle at one end and a worm or screw at the other.1859 —Definition 1 of gimlet in the OED Online.

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Forms:

gimlet eye....noun

gimlet eyed....adj.

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Entry #3 among the several definitions of gimlet in the OED indicates gimlet can be used as attributively to describe another thing or used as a part of a combined form, giving "gimlet eye" as an example, which, in turn, it defines as follows:

(a) a squint-eye,
(b) a sharp or piercing eye; hence gimlet-eyed, having a gimlet-eye. ‘What said ye yer name was?’ said the old dame again, looking at me with her gimlet eyes.'

gimlet eye....(g hard)

A squint-eye; strictly speaking, "an eye that wanders obliquely," jocosely called a "piercer:

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Final Thoughts

Some words are wired, we might say, to a simple electrical circuit connected to a switch that, when thrown, energizes the word, sending to the reader's mind a single beam of meaning. An example of such a word is the adjective "circular," as in "a circular hole in the wall." The hole is not oval, square, triangular, or jagged: it's circular, precisely so: a set of points in a plane, each point placed at a fixed distance, called the radius, from an established point called the center. It's circular.

Other words, such as gimlet-eyed, work with far more sophisticated wiring (perhaps even a circuitboard) which is routed to a panel of arrayed switches, each offering its own nuanced meaning. It's up to the reader, then, to throw the set of switches appropriate to the occasion, i.e., to the context of the sentence at hand.

#

je ne sais quoi

je ne sais quoi....[gen-se-kwa].... noun

French = "I know not what."

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DEFINITION

An indescribable or inexpressible something.—OED Online.


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.RECENT SIGHTINGS.

.FILM REVIEW:

No matter how preposterous, Mr. [Joel] Schumacher’s films [“Car Wash,” “Flatliners,” “Batman & Robin”] almost always have a certain pop je.ne.sais.quoi; they’re hooky like a chart-topping song, like that not-quite-dumb-enough television show you just can’t stop watching.

—From a review of Schumaker’s film “The Number 23,” “A Man, a Book, a Number: What Does It All Mean?” by Manohla Dargin in The New York Times, Movies, Feb. 3, 2007.

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ADVERTISEMENT:

A journalist once asked Marilyn Monroe what she wore to bed, and she cooed, “Just a few drops of No.5.” It’s the ineffable je.ne.sais.quoi of Chanel No. 5 that has ensured its timeless appeal, and a truly beguiling mystery never grows old.

— Leslie Bennetts, in an full page advertisement titled “Essence of Time,” in Vanity Fair; September, 2007; pg. 208.

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omerta

Omerta v1.0
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omerta [o-mer-tah'] noun 1886


1. A Mafia code of honour which demands absolute loyalty to the organization and silence about its activities, esp. refusal to give evidence of criminal activity to the police.

The code of Omerta says: ‘Evidence is good so long as it does not injure your neighbour. 1887 — Littell's Living Age 17 Dec. 678/2

2. In extended use: a code of silence, esp. about clandestine or criminal activity; a refusal to talk openly about something. — OED Online.


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OMERTA IN USE (1)

From “Campaign Chic: Not Too Cool; Never Ever Hot” by Guy Trebay
The New York Times, "Fashion and Style," July 22, 2007.

[L]eaks from inside the campaign [alleged] that [SenatorJohn] McCain thought his handlers were dressing him up as a metrosexual [2] . . .

Political blogs like the Stump and the Swamp, and gossipier ones like Radar, had a field day with Mr. McCain’s so-called “gay sweater,” a V-neck worn over a T-shirt. . . .

“You neither want to be seen as somebody who cares too much about appearance or too little,” said Jay Fielden, the editor of Men’s Vogue. . . . . There’s a strict code that’s kind of understood, but that you know these guys can’t talk about,” said Mr. Fielden, referring to sartorial guidelines whose very existence is subject to Beltway [2] omerta. “If you get into a situation like McCain did, it ends up seeming like you’re being dressed by your mother. It’s not very macho.”

[1] metrosexual: A man (esp. a heterosexual man) whose lifestyle, spending habits and concern for personal appearance are likened to those considered typical of a fashionable, urban, homosexual man.—OED: Draft Entry, 2005.

[2] the Beltway: Interstate 495 (abbreviated I-495) is a freeway-class interstate highway which circles Washington, D.C. and its inner suburbs in Maryland and Virginia. I-495 is widely known as the Capital Beltway or simply the Beltway, especially when the context of Washington, D.C. is clear. It is the basis of the phrase "inside the Beltway", used when referring to issues dealing with American government and politics.—Wikipedia

The compact catchphrase "Beltway omerta" expects the reader to be familiar with the jargon Mafia practices and of current American national politics.

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OMERTA IN USE (2)

A book review from Buzzflash Reviews:

Unfit Commander: Texans for Truth Take On George W. Bush. By Glenn W. Smith. New York: ReganBooks, October 11, 2004.

[An unsigned review.]

Talk about a timely book that was printed a year ago! The nomination of Harriet Miers, Bush's latest consigliore, is not only a testament to how the Busheviks are organized along the lines of the Mafia, which is to say that Omerta takes precedence over any claim to competence, or in this case even any prior experience as a judge.

What makes this book -- which was a belated counter-attempt to counter the lies of the Rove-orchestrated "Swift Boat Liars" in the last election -- so immediately relevant is that Miers was paid by the Bush campaign when he was Governor of Texas to "look over" his National Guard record for "trouble spots." Some claim that she was even party to "eliminating" troublesome portions of the record.

But the biggest accusation was that she used a Texas state position to basically provide "hush money" to a man who could verify that George was given preference for a position in the Texas Air National Guard. Miers has proven herself a total Bush loyalist and crony. She meets Bush's only requirement in a candidate for any position: complete and uncompromising loyalty to Bush and the ruling Republican junta.

www.buzzflash.com/store/reviews/167

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ETYMOLOGY

The OED suggests two uncertain lines of derivation:

1. as an alteration of Spanish hombredad manliness, which came from hombre man.

2. Or, in the OED’s view, less likely, as a regional variant of Italian umiltà humility n. (with allusion to the Mafia code which enjoins submission of the group to the leader as well as silence on all Mafia concerns).

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HISTORICAL CITATIONS OF OMERTA:

Omerta carries a rich array of connotations, a few of which include

• loyalty,
• strength of character (sometimes translated into “manliness”),
• secrecy,
• strong political power,
• vulnerability to established law enforcement
• extremism,
• corruption.

These connotations are apparent among the OED's sample sentences for omerta:

The code of Omerta says: ‘Evidence is good so long as it does not injure your neighbour.’—1887 Littell's Living Age

There is..the belief that it is unmanly to tell anything about a fellow countryman which could get him into trouble. It is called ‘Omerta’ in the Sicilian tongue, which means manliness.—1909 Evening Sun (N.Y.)

They [the Mafia] have a law... It's called the Omerta. It's an unwritten law a code of conduct, really.—1965 J. WAINWRIGHT
An island [Sardinia] where omerta is stronger than democracy. —1968 Listener

The protection program was formally established after passage of the Organized Crime Control Act of 1970 to hasten the breakdown of omertà, the underworld code of silence.—1977 Time (Atlantic ed.)

Divorced from certain values comradeship degenerates into omerta, the Mafia code of unconditional loyalty with no questions asked.—1991 Sunday Tel.

Lansdale's omerta about his work for the CIA.—1975 Jrnl. Asian Stud.

They [extreme leftists] cover the terrorists... They even serve as couriers for them... There is a certain omerta surrounding terrorism.—1978 Washington Post

Corruption remains a grave problem in the Met, as does a deeper form of corruption, the omertà which seals all lips.—1987 Sunday Tel.

The company devoted the whole evening of live television to breaking what it describes as the ‘omertà’ surrounding mad cow disease.—2000 Daily Tel
..

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solipsism

Solipsist.

(consciousentites.com)

sol•ip•sism
[sol-ip-siz-uh-m] -noun

——————————————————— DEFINITIONS
1. Philosophy. The theory that only the self exists, or can be proved to exist.
2. extreme preoccupation with and indulgence of one's feelings, desires, etc.
———————————————————mm Related forms
sol•ip•sis•mal [sol•ip•siz'•mal] adj.
sol•ip•sist [sol'-ip-sist] noun adj. sol•ip•sis•tic [sol-ip-sis'-tic] adj.

Origin

1880-1885; sol alone + Latin ips(e) self + ism]

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, 2006.

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PHILOSOPHICAL SOLIPSISM
The Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy defines

solipsim [as the] belief that only oneself and one's experience exists. Solipsism is the extreme consequence of believing that knowledge must be founded on inner, personal states of experience, and then failing to find a bridge whereby they can inform us of anything beyond themselves. Solipsism of the present moment extends its skepticism [that knowledge or even rational belief is possible] even to one's own past states, so that all that is left is me, now. [Bertrand] Russell reports meeting someone who claimed that she was a solipsist, and was surprised that more people were not so as well.

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DR. JOHNSON'S FAMOUS REBUTTAL
TO PHILOSOPHICAL SOLIPSISM:

Samuel Johnson, circa 1772 Painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds.

Samuel Johnson LL.D. (1709-84) or Dr. Johnson, as he is most often regarde, is one of England's best known literary figures. He was a poet, essayist, biographer, lexicographer, literary critic, wit. He is the most quoted English writer after Shakespeare, and is the subject of the famous biography Life of Johnson (1791) by James Boswell.

[Left.] James Boswell (1740-1795) author of the famous biography the Life of Johnson. He is also the eponymous source of three English words: Boswell, Boswellian, and Boswellism, which stand for "constant companion and observer."

Here, from the Life of Johnson (1791), Boswell speaks, recounting Johnson's famous refutation of solipsism sans the term solipsism, however, because it will not appear in print until 1880:

After we came out of the church, we stood talking for some time together of Bishop Berkeley's ingenious sophistry to prove the nonexistence of matter, and that every thing in the universe is merely ideal. I observed, that though we are satisfied his doctrine is not true, it is impossible to refute it. I never shall forget the alacrity with which Johnson answered, striking his foot with mighty force against a large stone, till he rebounded from it -- "I refute it thus."

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A VENN DIAGRAM OF SOLIPSISM

To readers who prefer the visual channel for learning, take a look at the three Venn diagrams below. They were designed to explain solipsism by a blogging philosopher who uses the .

A philosophical adventurer—nom de blog Xocxoc—at the website titled "Xocxoc's Irreverent guide to Philosophy" devised the following Venn Diagrams to illustrate his understanding of philosophical solipsism. It may take a bit of mulling (as it did me) to make sense of the diagrams, but they made good sense me and may prove useful to you.

	This first diagram represents the philosophy of solipsism. It is the view that everything we can see (R) and prove (P) is just an illusion. Reality (A) has a whole separate existence. What if our dreams are the reality and the waking world is illusion?
	This diagram represents the Objectivists / Empirical view that everything we see (A&R) is in fact real. Just not everything has been proven (P). Anything we cannot observe, however, such as Heaven and Area 51, must be set aside as myth.
	This is the largely popular middle of the road view, which says that what we think to be true (R), is for the most part true. That everything we can prove (P) is true absolutely (A). There is also room for stuff that is proven true, but does not seem to be true, like quantum physics, and Dick Clark's real age.

Assuming that the last one is the case, there is a large chunk of absolute truth we cannot even fathom. This provides a big loophole for all sorts of weird beliefs. I mean, hey, we can't prove everything, can we?

(philosophy/tr1a.gif)

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SOLIPSISM IN GULLIVER'S TRAVELS:
A peculiar, detailed invention of solipsistic behavior appears in "A Voyage to Laputa," Chapter Two, of Johnathan Swift's satirical critique of human behavior, Gulliver's Travels (1726). Laputa, interpreted by visiting Lemuel Gulliver to mean the Flying or Floating Island, is an island detached from land and sea, afloat among the clouds. It is a fitting locale for people whose minds are preoccupied exclusively with theories of music and mathematics, which, to disadvantage of all Laputians, they are unable to translate into reality, by, for instance, composing a sonata or designing a bridge. They are, as we say it today, psychologically ungrounded.

Although Swift's book (of 1726) does not use the word " solipsistic" (which was first recorded in 1880) to describe the speculative scholars of Laputa, they are most certainly are:

Their heads were all reclined either to the right or to the left; one of their eyes turned inward, and the other directly up to the zenith. Their outward garments were adorned with the figures of suns, moons, and stars, interwoven with those of fiddles, flutes, harps, trumpets, guitars, harpsichords, and many more instruments of music, unknown to us in Europe. I observed here and there many in the habit of servants, with a blown blatter fastened like a flail to the end of a short stick, which they carried in their hands. In each blatter was a small quantity of dried pease or little pebbles (as I was aft . With these bladders they now and then flapped the mouths and ears of those who stood near them, of which practice I could not then conceive the meaning. It seems the minds of these people are so taken up with intense speculations, that they neither can speak, nor attend to the discourses of others, without being roused by some external taction upon the organs of speech and hearing; for which reason those persons who are able to afford it always keep a flapper (the original is climenole) in their family, as one of their domestics, nor even walk abroad or make visits without him (153). — Jonathan Swift. Gulliver's Travels. New York: Washington Square Press, 1969.

Pen & Ink Drawing by Bloggin'John

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A NOTE IN PASSING

On the Untoward Effects of Solipsistic behavior among
the Men of Laputa in Their Relations with women.

It is the men of Laputa who are engaged in self-absorbed contemplation, not the women, who, in Gulliver's view, "have abundance of vivacity." Having been dismissed sexually by their husbands, the wives "contemn [disdain] their husbands, and are exceedingly fond of strangers," from among whom they

choose their gallants . . . for the husband is always so rapt in speculation, that the mistress and lover may proceed to the greatest familiarities before his face, if he be but provided with paper and implements, and without his flapper at his side (159-60).

May all cerebrally intensive solipsists — male and female — take heed, then, of their partners' corporeal appetites and needs.
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SOLIPSISM in the vernacular,
i.e., in everyday English
Thus far we have considered solipsism as a philosophical stance. We will now move on to consider the vernacular, every-day, meaning of solipsism.
Recall that the American Heritage Dictionary defines solipsism in the vernacular as "extreme preoccupation with and indulgence of one's feelings, desires, etc."
Put another way, solipsism is "a perspective based on one’s own individual situation rather than a miltiperson perspective. It is an act of solipsism to assume that others enjoy the things that you enjoy."—The Urban Dictionary Submitted by bpw on Oct 5, 2003.

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SOLIPSISM IN USE:

From The New Yorker
If [Michael] Bloomberg's media tease turns into the full-blown affair of an independent Presidential campaign, who would benefit? New York, for starters. Or, at least, the glittering constellation of news and entertainment companies, Wall Street firms, political consultants, civic boosters, paid gossips, columnists, pundits, publicists, and solipsists who feed — and turn batten* on — the impression that unless something happens in New York, it doesn't happen. —George Packer, Comment. Mr. Independent. "The Talk of the Town" The New Yorker, July 2, 2007.
*To feed gluttonously on, glut oneself; to gloat or revel in.—Online OED

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COMMENT

These New York solipsists are not totally self-absorbed as are the mind-manacled characters afloat on Laputa. These lusty Big Apple urbanites are outgoing, mutual participants in the cosmopolitan experience, interactive with each other in the middle of "The New York moment," whether the moment be quotidian or extraordinary — as only New York can exhibit the extraordinary.

Note the opening words in the Random House definition of vernacular solicism: "extreme preoccupation with and indulgence of one's feelings, desires, etc." (emphasis added). It would take "total preoccupation" or "complete preoccupation" to reach the domain of philosophical solicism.
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SOLIPSISM IN USE

"Nixon's Solipsism: Has Bush Gone Too Far?"
By Richard Lacayo

President Bush will start the new year [2006] preoccupied for a while with a fight over whether his responsibility to prevent another attack gave him the power to push aside an act of Congress - or, to use the terms of his harshest critics, to break the law. Bush and his supporters say that the President has the power to take extraordinary steps to protect the nation and that sometimes nothing less will do. His opponents say that the war on terrorism can be fought just as well, if not better, without novel interpretations of the law and that the White House reasoning sounds all too much like Richard Nixon's famous exercise in Oval Office solipsism: "When the President does it, that means that it is not illegal."

CNN Editorials, Jan. 2006

www.banderasnews.com/0601/eded-bushtoofar.htm

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SOLIPSIM SPOOFED
By a communications consultant
FROM: Lee Hopkins' Better Communication Results

September 12, 2005.

Podcast-Related Syndromes:

"Further cause for concern: Podcast Solipsism"

By Lee Hopkins

Professor Sallie Goetsch has found evidence of a deeply disturbing phenomenon she has nicknamed, “Earbud Isolation”. With the more formal title of ‘Podcast Solipsism’, Professor Goetsch has uncovered yet more proof of the potentially life-threatening spread of podcast-related diseases.

[Professor Goetsch notices] that sufferers of this ravaging disease can be found with earbuds in place during shopping trips, errand running and even Parent Teacher exchanges. . . .

This new world of podcasts is a dangerous place - be careful out there, and when ever concern strikes, see a qualified medical expert, like your local family doctor. Or me. —Lee Hopkins
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A Response to “Further cause for concern: Podcast Solipsism”
Laura Says:
September 12th, 2005 at 11:48 pm
I’ve actually seen signs of solipsism in unlikely places….in the office, where professionals in their 30’s are so plugged in, they won’t answer their ringing phones! And on the sidewalk, a 60-something, white-haired lady was so “into” her iPod, she nearly knocked me over as she hummed tunelessly while power walking. Let’s be careful out there, people.

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SOLIPSISM IN POPULAR CULTURE

From an essay in Blogcritics Magazine, by Dawn Olsen, April 08,2006:

Our society is getting fatter, while we are being bombarded with unrealistic versions of what's normal and healthy. Where's the disconnect? Hollywood and the fashion industry are mostly to blame. A perfect example is that whack job Lindsay Lohan.
Once a healthy-looking attractive teen, she has now become the embodiment of yo-yo weight loss and weight gain.


She even admitted to having an eating disorder (but of course later denied it) in an interview that, as far as I am concerned, showcased her spiral into dangerous self-obsession and solipsism.


Lohan (with a similarly drained Nicole Richie at right) is just one example, but there are dozens who show a lack of concern for their health in an industry that forces them to choose between an attractive, healthy weight and an emaciated, anorexic frame.

Written by Dawn Olsen. "Harry Potter Author Rowling Takes On
Hollywood's Ultra-Thinness Message," Published April 08,2006. (blogcritics.org/archives/2006/04/08/140238.php)
(Photo from flickr.com)

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IMAGES OF SOLIPSISM

philibert.nu/images/galerie/portrait/4p1.jpg

javierguillot.stumbleupon.com/
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http://paleotrope.files. wordpress.com

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Recent sighting, April 29, 2010

"But the appearance on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” was her first television interview since the scandal erupted. And it was a surreally solipsistic and New Age-ish account, in which Ms. Hunter’s “truth,” as she put it, trumped all other concerns, including all the lying. “Our hearts were louder than the minds,” is how Ms. Hunter explained her decision to have an affair with a presidential candidate whose wife has cancer."  — ALESSANDRA STANLEY, "One woman's 'truth':  Rielle Hunter Talks with Oprah," The New York Times, April 29, 2010.

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