Ultracrepidarian

Ultracrepidarian

The only thing worse than receiving criticism on a piece of your work is when that person doing the criticizing has no idea what they are talking about. I personally find this sort of situation occurs whenever I ask my parents’ advice on my papers and essays I write in university. Perhaps it is because times have changed, or because I am enrolled in a fairly new faculty of university studies, but I always find that when I go looking for assistance from my parents, it usually results in me teaching them a lesson about the subject and no real progress made to my paper beyond grammatical mistakes. As times change, people change, traditions change. That may be why the longer you live, the more likely it is you will encounter people who judge you without any knowledge of how or why you’ve made the decisions you’ve made. Some may call these people stuck-up jerks, but they can be more formally and historically addressed as ultracrepidarians.

Ull-tra-cre-pe-dare-ee-an-ism

Main Entry:   ultracrepidarianism

Part of Speech:   adjective

Definition:   It is the habit of giving opinions and advice on matters outside of one’s knowledge; noting or pertaining to a person who criticizes, judges, or gives advice outside the area of his or her expertise.

Etymology:   “One day in ancient Rome, the famous artist Apelles was drawing a person, starting at the man’s sandals.

A common shoemaker took a look at his work and criticized Apelles’ drawing of the sandal, specifically pointing out the way the artist had drawn the latch. The artist, deferring to the man’s expertise in this area, quickly corrected his error per the shoemaker’s instruction. Not stopping at the sandals, however, the shoemaker then went on to criticize the way in which the artist had drawn the subject’s legs. This angered Apelles, who famously exclaimed, ‘Ne supra crepidiam judicaret,” meaning, ‘Let him not criticize above the sandal.’ As far as Apelles was concerned, the shoemaker was unqualified to give a critique that extended beyond the scope of his knowledge. The term ultracrepidarian, literally translated from the Latin to mean ‘beyond the sandal,’ was first recorded by William Hazlitt in 1819, although it had been used for hundreds of years. An ultracrepidarian is the person commenting on subjects of which they are ignorant.”

Bergman, Gregory. Isms. Adams Media, Avon: 2006. 242. Print.

For those who are interested in more interesting words and their definitions, I would recommend checking out “epeolotry” on tumblr. There are plenty of new and extravagant words to boost your vocabulary and give your next conversation a little something extra. (http://epeolotry.tumblr.com)

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