Mikhail Epstein's definitions

transvert

transvert n Lat. trans, across, over + vertere, to turn; cf. intravert, extravert - a psychological type that alternates between introversion and extraversion and combines features of both types.

I don't know who I am, an extravert or an introvert? Or am I a transvert? If so, then the entire classification crumbles.

His life moves from one extreme to another, from complete self-absorption to wild partying at random places with random people. He is a typical transvert.

by Mikhail Epstein November 2, 2003

infinition

infinition (definition + infinitity) Ð an infinite process of defining something that cannot be fully or precisely defined; an endless list of possible definitions.

Certain fluid concepts in their emergent state are subject to in-finition--infinite dispersal of their meaning--rather than to definition. To infine is to suggest the infinity of possible definitions of a certain term or concept and therefore to problematize its meaning and the possibility or the benefit of defining it. If definition circumscribes a specific conceptual area, then infinition releases the concept from restricting demarcations and places it in an indeterminate zone.

by Mikhail Epstein November 6, 2003

syntellect

syntellect n (Greek syn, with, together + intellect) Ð the unified mind of civilization that integrates all individual natural and artificial minds through the mediation and accumulative effects of informational networks.

Intellectual network--inteLnet--will connect all thinking beings into one communicational network that gradually will develop into a new form of consciousness--syntellect. The syntellect will absorb and condense the potentials of all thinking beings and will operate on both biological and quantum levels.

by Mikhail Epstein November 6, 2003

foodnik

foodnik n food + suffix nik Ð someone for whom food and eating are main joys of living and are full of sacral significance.

He invites me to cook together a dinner, but I will hardly meet his expectations. He is a real foodnik.

by Mikhail Epstein November 6, 2003

defriend

defriend smbd v , transitive de + friend; cf. befriend - to break off friendly relations (with smbd).

He defriended me a year after we met, with no reason or explanation. He just stopped calling, period.

I want to defriend you. Ð What's wrong? - I need something more than friendship from you. I need love.

by Mikhail Epstein November 2, 2003

scientify

scientify verb transitive (science + suffix ify, from Latin -ficare and -facere, to make or do) - to make smth more scientific, to subject to scientific views, rules and concepts.

He has tried hard to scientify his paper, but it still remains a provocative essay rather than a consistent argument.

She has scientified her diet and as a result got a distaste for food.

by Mikhail Epstein November 9, 2003

ifnik (if + suffix nik)

someone whose life, habits and thinking are constructed conditionally.

Don't ask him what he's going to do. A typical ifnik, he will give you a dozen of "ifs."

by Mikhail Epstein October 2, 2003