September 26, 2020

The OED Word of the Day is an obsolete word, "Titanolatry."

Is the OED suggesting that we bring it back to life? We could use it: it means "Worship of, or excessive respect for, power." The mythological Titans represent power in this concoction with the familiar "-olatry" ending.

What's the worst Titanolatry going on today? Is the OED obscurely nudging us about Trump, whose crowds these days chant "We love you"?

Here's "The Fall of the Titans" by Cornelis Cornelisz van Haarlem (1596–1598). I love the placement of the dragonfly (and the overall it's-raining-men effect):

20 comments:

JAORE said...

"Worship of, or excessive respect for, power."

Yeah, Trump. Could not possibly link THAT to the left.

Of course for the left, There Is None So Blind As He Who Will Not Look.

buwaya said...

Worship is an odd way to look at this. Or an odd word to use. Or a wriggly concept.

We worship God the omnipotent, is that titanolatry?
Or do we worship God for reasons other than his omnipotence? And in that case would we worship him if he wasn't omnipotent?

gilbar said...

i always admired Titans, they were good; for their day
and (of course), i really like Minutemen (at least the III's)... i mean who doesn't?

but LOVE? the only one i ever LOVED was MX.... now, THERE was a missile!!

iowan2 said...

I'll lose the 'word play' game here, but the worship of power, and worship of authority, the same thing?

Dems/leftist want to govern by authority. Govt created authority. The CDC possesses some mythical ability to divine the known from the unknown. We are now ~7 months into this pandemic. Today the medical community is not treating covid patients, anything like they did 7 months ago. Yet the CDC has not adjusted its protocols one iota. Our hosts observation from yesterday about leftist demanding we believe what we are told, but not examine the facts and make our own decisions.

Credentialed vs accomplished.

Want to slam President Trump? Easy just quote one or two people with Doctorates, and nobody can disagree with you.

Rick.T. said...

I alway thought it referred to excess fondness for “Remember the Titans.”

tim in vermont said...

"Worship of, or excessive respect for, power."

RGB?

dustbunny said...

Were the insects in the original painting or added like fig leaves?

J said...

Iowan2 there is a difference between power and authority.Authority is generally the moral right to use the power.Power is just the ability to influence.The possession of power is what a titanolater worships.

tcrosse said...

Titaniolatry: worship of Titania McGrath

Rob said...

Bohemian Grove?

Joe Smith said...

Seriously impressive glutes...that is years in the gym doing squats.

And those butterflies...very convenient. I'd be laughing because they look like they'd tickle...

NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...

I love the placement of the dragonfly (and the overall it's-raining-men effect)

It also seems to be raining the same man over and over. Apparently van Haarlem was too cheap or too broke to hire more than one model.

NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...

tcrosse said...

Titaniolatry: worship of Titania McGrath

Worshiping Titania or worshiping Titania's tits?

daskol said...

Shitty sounding word.

Sam L. said...

Well, I was a Titan 11 missile launch officer, and L like Titanolatry.

rcocean said...

Titaniolatry - sounds like a crazy word. No wonder it was replaced. Google gave me: Tintinolgy, which is the study of the Belgium cartoon "Tin Tin". Further googles discovered this was an extremely popular cartoon of the 30's and 40s. But we're told:

The works were first adapted for the American English market by Golden Books, a branch of the Western Publishing Company in the 1950s. The albums were translated from French into American English with some artwork panels blanked except for the speech balloons. This was done to remove content considered to be inappropriate for children, such as drunkenness and free mixing of races.[63] The albums were not popular and only six were published in mixed order.[64] The edited albums later had their blanked areas redrawn by Hergé to be more acceptable, and they currently appear this way in published editions around the world.

So, even in the 50s, there was PC Censorship!

Richard Dolan said...

There you go again with these triggering paintings by Old White Men featuring nothing but young white men showing off their privilege. This post is followed by one about the Guston paintings that are so triggering they've triggered the curators who voted for them before they voted against them. And few days ago it was the painting of Hell populated with all-black devils corralling their conquests.

Can it get any worse? We'll just have to wait for tomorrow. Perhaps by them it will be time to Make Madison Great Again.

Richard Dolan said...

There you go again with these triggering paintings by Old White Men featuring nothing but young white men showing off their privilege. This post is followed by one about the Guston paintings that are so triggering they've triggered the curators who voted for them before they voted against them. And few days ago it was the painting of Hell populated with all-black devils corralling their conquests.

Can it get any worse? We'll just have to wait for tomorrow. Perhaps by them it will be time to Make Madison Great Again.

gilbar said...

Blogger Sam L. said...
Well, I was a Titan 11 missile launch officer, and L like Titanolatry.

Color ME jealous!
Thank you sir, for your service

Bilwick said...

I used to go to a Manhattan YMCA that was heavily Gay. In fact, it was said that it was the same Y that inspired the Village People song "YMCA." That painting "The Fall of the Titans" would have made a good mural for the locker room.

Not that there's anything wrong with that.