Comments on: What did he just say?

Question: What did he just say?

foxy_hedgehog — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 07:55:32 -0800

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!

By: edmz

edmz — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 08:02:49 -0800

a made up word that might mean that something has economic and ecologic benefits, perhaps?

By: gwenlister

gwenlister — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 08:09:57 -0800

I agree with edmz. Sounds like it was made up to suit their purpose. Very cromulent of them.

By: wfrgms

wfrgms — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 08:11:50 -0800

Usage: "With our limited budget, staying at the Econo Lodge, was econological."

By: foxy_hedgehog

foxy_hedgehog — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 08:24:34 -0800

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...

By: edmz

edmz — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 08:29:52 -0800

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

"the convergence of ecology and economics for the common good".

By: edmz

edmz — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 08:32:08 -0800

Ha, said website claims the word is trademarked.

By: foxy_hedgehog

foxy_hedgehog — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 08:59:39 -0800

Oh, how terribly disappointing! I excepted better from mushroom guy. I hope he paid royalties to the people with the website.

By: O9scar

O9scar — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 10:24:40 -0800

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.

By: camworld

camworld — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 10:43:03 -0800

I made up a new word: stupidiferous.

It means "to make up words to suit your own marketing goals."

By: DarkForest

DarkForest — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 11:15:12 -0800

It's a word describing a Vulcan convention at Econo Lodge. I'm trademarking it for that purpose.

By: billysumday

billysumday — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 17:02:22 -0800

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

I'm going with economical + logical, because the other one is really dumb.

By: paulg

paulg — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 13:29:12 -0800

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).