New word alert!

I found a new word (at least to me) in a back issue of Scientific American (Jan 04). Here it is from a column by Michael Shermer:

To "buncomize" is to "talk bunkum," and no one does this with a better vocabulary than pseudoscientists, who lace their hokum narratives with scientistic jargon.

Scientistic - it's the scientists' version of "truthiness."

Shermer gives an example from an ad for something called "laundry balls" which are little balls to be added to your laundry to make them fresher and cleaner: "it works on 'Quantum Mechanics' (Physics), not chemistry, with a method called 'Structured Water Technology" the add claims.

Now let's go out and be scientistic!


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