Other 'volvere' words

I have been thinking about other words which use the Latin root 'volvere' (as in evolution) which could be used to convey a similar sense to 'extravolution'.

There are various listings on Google for 'transvolution'. In many of these instances it has been used in the sense of spirituality or mind development (biological). 'Trans' can mean beyond or across but doesn't quite capture the sense that I am trying to convey with 'extravolution'. In the case of the now widely used word 'transgender' the word 'trans' conveys the sense of 'in between'. Extravolution has begun and is not 'across' or 'in between'.

There is also about one listing on Google for 'supervolution'. This word is a reasonable alternative. The word 'super' means 'above' or 'over'. It could, however, be considered a little pejorative and perhaps doesn't convey the sense of an ongoing but partially separate process.

It's interesting to see the burgeoning recognition of the extravolution process. I am sure this will snowball as people go from vague recognition to startling familiarity with extravolution (or whichever other word becomes the accepted term).

Killing Joke

Why do I enjoy the music of Killing Joke so much? It feels visceral, like no other music I know. I suppose there are some sounds/chord progressions/melodies which just fit perfectly with ones own brain patterns. As a friend once asked when I was casting about for something new to listen to, "What do your ears like?"

My ears and my brain enjoy Killing Joke.

Word meets resistance

'Extravolution' is now getting a hard time on Wiktionary. Now it's even being called a 'protologism'. A word which has existed since 1829 can't be a protologism. My definition of it is certainly new but then so is the phenomenon it now describes. Shall we call it a neologistic nonce word? It is what it is.

I know. Information is not knowledge. Knowledge is of value while information is constantly destroyed. But how does one make knowledge?

Creating a word

I thought of this word a couple of years ago while standing in the shower in a dwam (Scots word for daydreaming). What's happening to humans now through the development of technology isn't exactly part of biological evolution but it is nevertheless evolution. It's somehow beyond that. As 'extraterrestrial' is to 'beyond/outside of earth', so 'extravolution' is to 'beyond/outside of evolution'.

I recently got round to preparing a definition of the word and put it on Wikipedia. The editors there are rather rule-bound and condemned it to deletion as a neologism. It did survive in Wiktionary.

At that time I found that the word existed on Google in only one other place. In an .rtf file written by a Latin scholar. I emailed him to find out where it came from and he told me that it came from an early edition of the Oxford English dictionary but it seemed only to have been defined as the opposite of 'intravolution'.

The word has sound linguistic roots and I have given it a definition. Some people who I have told about this have said that I can't just create/define words. Why not? Must I be an academic to be able to think? Extravolution is a word. I use it and am understood.

Here we go

As the dry-witted Highlander calmly stated as he faced imminent death in the form of his car falling off the edge of a cliff. "Here we go," he said. Another journey? No. He was going to die and that would have been that. Death is always a waste.

I was discussing this with a friend's wife this weekend. She was getting emotional about her gran's death. She was rationalising the old woman's death by saying that she had been somehow ready. Is anyone ever really ready to die? Ill people maybe want to die to alleviate the suffering. Same goes for suicidal people. If you're fit and healthy in mind and body the chances are that you want to live. Preferably forever.