ThePhysopher's definitions

Obsessive-Compulsive Instagram Disorder (OCID)

When you feel the need to forward a just received joke, picture or video to your friends (not to the sender, of course). To be unable to keep the received medium just for you.
Common similar activities called Obsessive Compulsive Disorders or OCDs include hand washing, counting of things, and checking to see if a door is locked.

This Christmas joke card is so great. It fits perfectly to John: Sent!

Oh dear, you suffer from CID, that social media disorder. The full technical term is Obsessive-Compulsive Instagram Disorder (OCID). Or just CID.
Oh, you are a wise guy.

by ThePhysopher December 22, 2018

microalcoholic

when you like drinking alcohol per se but regard a teaspoon of whisky as the right dose to draw the pleasure of drinking. The tablespoon is then at the boundary to alcoholism.

My wife and me, we are microalcoholics. It is our philosophy to enjoy whisky etc. but because alcohol with wine at lunch and dinner is accumulating through the day, we restrict to the enjoyable minimum. This gives the pleasure of nice drinks plus the good feeling of self-mastery.

See also zen-alcoholic

by ThePhysopher February 18, 2019

zen-alcoholic

when you like drinking alcohol per se but regard a teaspoon of whisky as the right dose to draw the pleasure of drinking. The tablespoon is then at the boundary to alcoholism. You stay within the field of Zen combining the pleasures of body and mind.

My wife and me, we are zen-alcoholics. It is our zen philosophy to enjoy whisky etc. but because alcohol with wine at lunch and at dinner is accumulating through the day, we restrict to the enjoyable minimum. This gives the pleasure of nice drinks plus the good feeling of self-mastery, it is just zen.

by ThePhysopher February 18, 2019

Hypercapitalism

Hypercapitalism is the brusque and blunt way in which today's super billionaires exercise their power. Examples include Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos.

The purchase of Twitter through Elon Musk was a typical act of hypercapitalism. This is power through a gigantic amount of money.

by ThePhysopher November 21, 2022

ILH

ILH or "I love her" is here an affectionate but slightly sarcastic remark.
A man says ILH loudly or silently when he doesn't like to do something she wants
but he does it because he just loves her! Of course, it could also mean *I love him".

If she wants to go to the opera and I don't, then I say to myself quietly: ILH (I love her) and go anyway
I've told ILH many times, she already knows what it means and just laughs contentedly.

by ThePhysopher November 18, 2024

Fosca effect

In the novel of Simone de Beauvoir, Fosca is a man who is the only one who cannot die. However, he becomes unhappy because all his friends die and leave him. The Fosca effect is therefore the feeling of an old person when he or she outlives their friends and the other people around them also disappear. It is a mixture of melancholy, pride and the guilt of still being alive.

Why is your father so sad? It's the Fosca effect, another one of his school friends has died.

I really must write my memoirs. It's probably the Fosca effect: if I don't do it, who else will?
The Fosca effect is quite natural when you get very old.

by ThePhysopher June 16, 2025

Menuphobia

Reluctance to make a choice between different alternatives.

Making decisions is always a task. But it is an unpleasant task for many people. The term "menuphobia" describes this aversion to having to choose between several alternatives.

I hate long lists of choices in restaurants. My wife always makes the better choice and I have to watch her. I already have real menu phobia.

There is so much great food to choose from on the cruise that I can't make up my mind. I suffer from menuphobia.

by ThePhysopher June 14, 2024