Wednesday

Rapid Rhetoric: MISOGAMY

Raphael's depiction of Plato defining the difference between true and false rhetoric This is an irregular feature - both in frequency and oddness - dedicated to a word I came across that I have never previously used.

misogamy (miss-AH-guh-mee) n. hatred of marriage.

After I came across this word in a lit-crit book about Shakespeare, I realized I could have easily discerned the meaning of misogamy by looking at its constituent parts, both of which are Greek in derivation: μισέω (miseō, "to hate") and γάμος (gamos, "marriage").

Note to self: cognition and caffeine work hand in hand (pauses to drink a half-cup of black coffee). Ah, much better.

Misogamy is joined in its antagonism toward matters marital by the noun misogamist ("one who hates marriage") and misogamic ("related to the hatred of marriage"). I have known people with misogamic tendencies, and they are just as likely to be women as men.

No cracks about misogamy and the Roman Catholic Church, please.