Fritinancy

Word of the week: Hoax

Welcome to April Fools’ Day, which is what every day has felt like, to me at least, for the last few years. Every day another bit of trumpery (a word related etymologically to French tromper, to deceive). Every day another affront to denizens of the reality-based community, as Karl Rove infamously put it back in 2004.

It’s a good day, as days go, to consider hoax, a word that, appropriately enough, has no clear origins. It was documented first as a verb, in 1796, in Grose’s Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue (“to deceive or take in by inducing to believe an amusing or mischievous fabrication or fiction; to play upon the credulity of”), and a decade later as a noun, in the London publication Sporting Magazine (“a humorous or mischievous deception, usually taking the form of a fabrication of something fictitious or erroneous, told in such a manner as to impose upon the credulity of the victim”). The OED says hoax is “supposed to be a contraction of hocus,” which was a contraction of hocus-pocus, a mock-Latin phrase that originally referred to “a conjuror or juggler.” (Hocus is also partially responsible for hokey, which I wrote about in 2015.)

Rename Liberty University

Liberty University, which calls itself an "independent, fundamentalist Baptist university located in Lynchburg, Virginia," recently disbanded the school's College Democrats when the chapter refused to affiliate with an anti-abortion group. To some observers, that sounds like the opposite of liberty. (Not to mention a violation of the rules for federal tax-exempt status.) So Dan Casey, metro columnist for the Roanoke Times, is sponsoring a contest to rename Liberty U. First prize is an autographed copy of Jon Winokur's The Big Book of Irony (which, ironically, is a small book—and an indispensable reference).

I'm sure Fritinancy readers will have some excellent suggestions for Dan, so why not go over to his blog right now and enter the contest? Deadline is Monday, June 8, 12.01 a.m. EDT.

There are some amusing nominations already. I especially like SSA University ("ASS" backward). And there would be a certain poetic justice to naming the college after its founder, the late Rev. Jerry Falwell. Yes, Falwell University: FU in headlines and on scoreboards.

Or how about Hypocrisy College? Sanctimony Tech? Everyone But U.?

For extra credit (and fun), I'm accepting nominations for a motto for the renamed institution. Latin, mock-Latin, or Pig Latin preferred. Leave a comment below.

UPDATE and reminder: If you want your comment to be published, you must include an authentic email address. The email address is for my eyes only; it tells me that you're legitimate and reachable in case of questions. No email address, no published comment.

UPDATE #2: For the last couple of days TypePad, which hosts this blog, has been automatically removing commenters' URLs. I've filed a Help ticket and have been assured the problem will be fixed. When it is, I'll paste in any URLs that were stripped out. (This applies only to those commenters who have websites or blogs that you'd like viewers to know about.) My apologies!

UPDATE #3: This nonobservant Jew hadn't known there was a special Christian definition of "liberty."

UPDATE #4: In an email, columnist Dan Casey informed me that Liberty University's motto is "Knowledge Aflame." I offer this information in hopes it spurs your creativity. (See the official seal  here; it's configured to prevent copying, which kinda figures.)