Coat of Thinking About

British saying (typically used in the building trade) for taking a moment to consider how a task should be approached.

Hmmm... I'm not sure how I should install this roof, I think I'm going to have to give it a good coat of thinking about.

by MrJimEatsLotsOfCurry October 12, 2022

Hope Solo Tanking

Purposely losing in order to give Lightner a better draft pick.

I’m not tanking, I’m Hope Solo Tanking so technically I didn’t break the no tanking rule.

by The one and only Hope Solo December 6, 2022

Free fall thinking

When you let your thoughts wander in a creative manner. usually occurring during boredom or spacing out.

"I just spent the last 30 minutes free fall thinking and now I have a really good idea!"

by BulkheadIneededthat August 22, 2023

Critical Bias (Critical Thinking Bias)

The paradoxical and self-defeating mindset where the tools of critical thinking—skepticism, demand for evidence, logical analysis—are applied selectively, rigorously, and almost exclusively to opposing viewpoints or unfamiliar information, while one's own deeply-held beliefs are protected by a shield of unexamined assumptions and motivated reasoning. It is the bias of believing you are bias-free because you are "critical," mistaking aggressive debunking of others for genuine intellectual rigor. This creates a sophisticated echo chamber where the thinker feels intellectually superior because they can tear down every external argument, never turning that same destructive gaze inward.

Critical Bias (Critical Thinking Bias) Example: A climate change "skeptic" meticulously picks apart every minor uncertainty in a complex climate model, demanding impossible levels of proof. Yet, they uncritically accept a blog post from an oil-funded think tank as definitive truth. This is Critical Bias—wielding the scalpel of scrutiny only on the other side's evidence, while performing surgery with a butter knife on their own. They believe their skepticism makes them objective, when it's just a weaponized filter for confirmation.

by Abzugal Nammugal Enkigal February 4, 2026

Weaponization of Critical Thinking

The practice of using the tools and language of critical thinking—skepticism, questioning, demand for evidence—not to genuinely evaluate claims but to undermine, dismiss, or attack positions one dislikes. The weaponizer of critical thinking doesn't apply the same standards to their own beliefs; they simply wield "critical thinking" as a cudgel against others, demanding impossible levels of proof, rejecting all evidence as insufficient, and declaring themselves the only rational person in the conversation. It's the rhetorical equivalent of a child covering their ears and shouting "I'm being critical!" The weaponization of critical thinking is especially common in online debates, where "just asking questions" becomes a way to spread doubt without making claims, and "being skeptical" becomes a way to dismiss expertise without engaging it.

Weaponization of Critical Thinking Example: "He weaponized critical thinking in every discussion, demanding sources, then rejecting them, asking for evidence, then dismissing it, claiming to be skeptical while believing obvious nonsense. He wasn't thinking critically; he was using the language of critical thinking to avoid ever being wrong. His opponents gave up, exhausted. The weapon had done its job."

by Abzugal Nammugal Enkigal February 16, 2026

Critical Theory of Thinking

The application of Critical Theory to thinking itself—examining how our thought processes are shaped by social conditions, how ideology operates through everyday cognition, and how thinking might be liberated from domination. Critical Theory of Thinking asks: How does capitalism shape what and how we think? How do racism, sexism, and classism structure our cognitive habits? Is there such a thing as "free" thought in an unfree society? Drawing on Marx, the Frankfurt School, and critical psychology, it insists that thinking is never just individual—it's social, historical, political. Liberation requires not just changing what we think, but how we think.

"You think you think for yourself. Critical Theory of Thinking asks: do you? Your thoughts are shaped by media, education, culture—all products of a society with power relations. Thinking critically means thinking about thinking: where do your categories come from? Whose interests do they serve? Critical theory insists on thinking that reflects, not just reacts."

by Abzugal Nammugal Enkigal March 4, 2026

Theory of Thinking Elasticity

A framework proposing that thinking itself is elastic—that cognitive processes can stretch across problems, contexts, and challenges without breaking. Thinking Elasticity suggests that thought isn't fixed but adaptive: attention stretches, memory stretches, reasoning stretches to meet demands. The theory identifies thinking's elastic limits: when does stretching become overload? When does adaptation become confusion? Understanding thinking requires understanding its stretch—how far it can go before it snaps. A normative framework proposing that we should cultivate elastic thinking—thinking that can stretch across perspectives, disciplines, and paradigms without breaking. Elastic Thinking is flexible without being flimsy, adaptive without being unprincipled. It stretches to accommodate new evidence, new viewpoints, new ways of reasoning—but knows its limits, knows when stretching would break rather than bend. It's the cognitive virtue for a complex world: thinking that can stretch without snapping.

Theory of Thinking Elasticity "She stretched her thinking to understand perspectives she'd never considered—it hurt, it bent, but it didn't break. Thinking Elasticity says that's what good thinking does: stretches to include more, to see further, to understand deeper. The question isn't whether you can think; it's how far your thinking can stretch." "He used to think in absolutes—rigid, brittle. Now he thinks elastically: considering multiple perspectives, holding contradictions, stretching without breaking. Theory of Elastic Thinking says that's the goal: not thinking that's always right, but thinking that can stretch to meet the world without shattering."

by Nammugal March 4, 2026