What did he just say?

November 28, 2008 7:55 AM

Hi, I just learned a new word. And for the first time, I can't find a definition for it on Google (The Horror! The Horror!) I will wager that there is someone reading this who knows all about it. The word is "econological."

Just came across it in a terrific TED Talk about how mushrooms can save the world (no, not those mushrooms). I've gathered enough from Google to understand that it's a conceptual framework for thinking about phenomena or actions -- along the lines of "ecology" -- and that its' used in both science as well as business and organizational psychology. That's as far, it seems, as I can get. Thanks languagehat-ers!

posted by foxy_hedgehog to Society & Culture (12 answers total)

a made up word that might mean that something has economic and ecologic benefits, perhaps?
posted by edmz at 8:02 AM on November 28, 2008

I agree with edmz. Sounds like it was made up to suit their purpose. Very cromulent of them.
posted by gwenlister at 8:09 AM on November 28, 2008 [2 favorites]

Usage: "With our limited budget, staying at the Econo Lodge, was econological."
posted by wfrgms at 8:11 AM on November 28, 2008 [5 favorites]

Response by poster: That's what I thought at first- that it was just a personal portmanteu. But my Google results suggested that it's used as a standard term by different people in different fields:


http://www.google.de/search?hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&hs=qr5&q=econological&btnG=Search

Hmmm...
posted by foxy_hedgehog at 8:24 AM on November 28, 2008

Best answer: Its a marketing word. According to econology.com, econology is:

"the convergence of ecology and economics for the common good".
posted by edmz at 8:29 AM on November 28, 2008

Ha, said website claims the word is trademarked.
posted by edmz at 8:32 AM on November 28, 2008

Response by poster: Oh, how terribly disappointing! I excepted better from mushroom guy. I hope he paid royalties to the people with the website.
posted by foxy_hedgehog at 8:59 AM on November 28, 2008

I seriously doubt Paul Stamets knows or cares that there's an Econological Institute. I'm sure it's just a verbal construct that a few different people have glommed onto. Nothing in the google results suggests it's a common word.
posted by O9scar at 10:24 AM on November 28, 2008

I made up a new word: stupidiferous.

It means "to make up words to suit your own marketing goals."
posted by camworld at 10:43 AM on November 28, 2008

It's a word describing a Vulcan convention at Econo Lodge. I'm trademarking it for that purpose.
posted by DarkForest at 11:15 AM on November 28, 2008 [1 favorite]

So it's either economical + ecological, or economical + logical.

I'm going with economical + logical, because the other one is really dumb.
posted by billysumday at 5:02 PM on November 28, 2008

Well, "econological" isn't in my two-volume Shorter Oxford English Dictionary (Fifth Edition), so I'd say the word hasn't entered the lexicon in any official way (if there is an official way).
posted by paulg at 1:29 PM on November 29, 2008