A tempest in a teapot if there ever was one. (Credit Cicero) Marx wasn't the first one to say "from each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs," but it will always be associated with his name because he popularized it (in his Critique of the Gotha Program) and made people understand the importance of the idea. Locke talked about "life, liberty, and..." and used the phrase "pursuit of happiness" before Jefferson, but Jefferson gained immortality by putting them together and popularizing them. Few people read Locke now, but everyone reads Jefferson. The trick is to make people care--by elaborating, contextualizing, showing connections to other matters of public concern. T.S. Eliot said "immature poets imitate; mature poets steal; bad poets deface what they take, and good poets make it into something better." (In A Sacred Wood), and IMHO the same can be said of people who write on Substack.
I once thought I had invented the phrase "Pure jackassery", but alas, no. Someone had beaten me to it. Pure jackassery, like tonic masculinity, must be an organic phenomenon, popping up everywhere, like mushrooms in the spring. So I get no credit for coining "pure jackassery", but please, call it out whenever you see it.
<;-}> As the inventor of the term "roadkill on the information highway" (at least it became very popular after I thought of it), I say someone needs to chill and be happy about successfully adding to pop culture vocabulary.
Damn! If all the fame and fortune you've experienced has come from using that phrase, I'm going to try it too! Does that make me a fourth-hand term user?
A fun read. I followed a link into the rabbit hole. If I am understanding it correctly, Tereza first used the term in her comment on Eisenstein's post on November 27, 2022. You noted that the term was used previously in a 2019 article. I did not know if you knew that someone else went back in time, too, and snagged the URL of tonicmasculinity.com, apparently in January of 2022. (https://tonicmasculinity.com/blog/)
And I had a little snarky thought of my own... perhaps instead of referring to "tonic masculinity", you could call it "tonick masculinity", a double entendre of sorts. On one hand, you 'nicked' the idea from someone. On the other, it is sort of a play on magic vs magick.
I know the guy who coined “philosoraptor” and man, if ever there was someone who deserved internet royalty riches it is him. He is, however, quite... philosophical about the whole thing, although it irks him a little when he gets the whole “nice name, real original!” crap from nubkins who don’t know better.
Very funny, Daniel, thanks for the sincere apology and citation ;-) I'm sure it will now bring me fame and fortune on my free substack. One small correction, I'm never irate. I know that emotions can be hard to read in print but if you watch the video, you'll see that there's no heat, no hatred.
Some, who don't want to wade into the comments section, have sent me private messages. This one I got today maybe speaks to your point that it's been used before: "One way that you're being downplayed is the claim someone made that the term existed before you wrote about it in response to Charles Eisenstein. It wouldn't surprise me if others had come up with the same phrase -- it's a big world out there. But it's clear from the discussion that it's your use of the phrase that engendered the recent discussions, not the supposed invention of it prior to yours."
A Confession and Heartfelt Apology
This cracked me up! Well done word thief !
A tempest in a teapot if there ever was one. (Credit Cicero) Marx wasn't the first one to say "from each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs," but it will always be associated with his name because he popularized it (in his Critique of the Gotha Program) and made people understand the importance of the idea. Locke talked about "life, liberty, and..." and used the phrase "pursuit of happiness" before Jefferson, but Jefferson gained immortality by putting them together and popularizing them. Few people read Locke now, but everyone reads Jefferson. The trick is to make people care--by elaborating, contextualizing, showing connections to other matters of public concern. T.S. Eliot said "immature poets imitate; mature poets steal; bad poets deface what they take, and good poets make it into something better." (In A Sacred Wood), and IMHO the same can be said of people who write on Substack.
I once thought I had invented the phrase "Pure jackassery", but alas, no. Someone had beaten me to it. Pure jackassery, like tonic masculinity, must be an organic phenomenon, popping up everywhere, like mushrooms in the spring. So I get no credit for coining "pure jackassery", but please, call it out whenever you see it.
<;-}> As the inventor of the term "roadkill on the information highway" (at least it became very popular after I thought of it), I say someone needs to chill and be happy about successfully adding to pop culture vocabulary.
Keep on truckin'! </;-}>
Damn! If all the fame and fortune you've experienced has come from using that phrase, I'm going to try it too! Does that make me a fourth-hand term user?
A fun read. I followed a link into the rabbit hole. If I am understanding it correctly, Tereza first used the term in her comment on Eisenstein's post on November 27, 2022. You noted that the term was used previously in a 2019 article. I did not know if you knew that someone else went back in time, too, and snagged the URL of tonicmasculinity.com, apparently in January of 2022. (https://tonicmasculinity.com/blog/)
And I had a little snarky thought of my own... perhaps instead of referring to "tonic masculinity", you could call it "tonick masculinity", a double entendre of sorts. On one hand, you 'nicked' the idea from someone. On the other, it is sort of a play on magic vs magick.
You know satire is dead, right?
💀
Gawd! I wish I could snark like that.
"GASP!"
I know the guy who coined “philosoraptor” and man, if ever there was someone who deserved internet royalty riches it is him. He is, however, quite... philosophical about the whole thing, although it irks him a little when he gets the whole “nice name, real original!” crap from nubkins who don’t know better.
Wow, 1st result with brave search gives
Vhttps://fcpp.org/2019/05/06/tonic-masculinity/
ToNic Masculinity
Commentary, Culture Wars, Philip Carl Salzman
Crafty time travelers!
That was highly enjoyable. Very good. Kudos!
Very funny, Daniel, thanks for the sincere apology and citation ;-) I'm sure it will now bring me fame and fortune on my free substack. One small correction, I'm never irate. I know that emotions can be hard to read in print but if you watch the video, you'll see that there's no heat, no hatred.
Some, who don't want to wade into the comments section, have sent me private messages. This one I got today maybe speaks to your point that it's been used before: "One way that you're being downplayed is the claim someone made that the term existed before you wrote about it in response to Charles Eisenstein. It wouldn't surprise me if others had come up with the same phrase -- it's a big world out there. But it's clear from the discussion that it's your use of the phrase that engendered the recent discussions, not the supposed invention of it prior to yours."