Diversity of Tongues

February 19, 2005

Our earlier questions about Hobson and Hobbesian are explored by leading linguists, not entirely to our credit (though we are granted Literate Reader status.) Extremely gratifying though: how often is someone of our obscurity quoted in conjunction with Justice Scalia?  Or, in general, dinosaurs in conversation with judges?

Thank you, [Scholars and] Gentlemenfolk.

Update:

We continue here in our intuitive bones to believe that the generation of "Hobbesian choice" dates back to someone's misspeech which was then rationalized.  If this is the determination, the phrase would be what Mark Lieberman calls a "citational eggcorn."  However, for this to be the case would require two levels of error, the malapropism, and the confusion of hard choices with no choice at all. Such duplication of error is in practice not unlikely, but proposing it as a solution may dull Occam's cutlery.

Also citing Arnold Zwicky, who flirts with my suspicions, Chris Waigl weighs in with a Francophone alternative:

this is precisely the type of situation that modern-day French calls choix cornélien, a choice between alternatives that mutually obliterate each other. A Cornelian choice (or dilemma) is named after the playwright (and contemporary of Hobbes) Pierre Corneille (1606 - 1684).

In the end, however, aspirations to introduce this into the fabric of our speech are modest. "I am unsure whether the reference to Corneille is familiar enough for educated English-speakers, and whether English, or any other language, is sufficiently open to such cultural imports."

Gentlemenfolk, is there a paper here? 
--" 'A,'  'non-A,' or Neither: Tongues Stumble at Constricted Choices"--

Update:  The Wall Street Journal has an explanation that encompasses both alternatives:

Incidentally, several readers inquired about the meaning of the term "Hobbesian choice," which was Andersen's. A Hobbesian choice is what you have when there is a solitary horse that is poor, nasty, brutish and short. 

Comments

[Mark Liberman]

A small correction: Chris Waigl is a gentleman of the female variety.

I made the same mistake when I first mentioned her in a blog entry -- and I even checked out her website first, including a picture!

In fairness to me (and to her), I should add that the picture showed her in a big winter coat holding a camera in front of her face.

[Dilys]

Oops. I was so bent on not misspelling "Waigl" that I lost all focus on other considerations.