Humpty Dumptyism

Humpty-Dumptyism English Alternative forms en Humpty-Dumptyism Etymology From en Humpty Dumpty ism, after the fictional character in Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass, who, when asked what he means by glory, replies, "I meant 'there's a nice knock-down argument for you!'" Alice protests that this isn't the meaning of glory and Humpty Dumpty replies, "When I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean——neither more nor less." Pronunciation en en-au-Humpty Dumptyism.ogg AU Noun - 1 en idiomatic The practice of insisting that a word means whatever one wishes it to. en 2003 J. A. Keats; Norman Cliff Ordinal Measurement in the Behavioral Sciences http://books.google.com/books?lr=&q=%22value+of+the+scale%2C+intelligence%2C+if+so%2C+this+would+be+Humpty+Dumptyism%22&btnG=Search+Books 31 "It seems to be saying one or both of two things. One is that any score that comes out of any procedure that purports to measure intelligence is a value of the scale, intelligence. If so, this would be Humpty Dumptyism." Related terms en Humpty Dumptyish en Humpty Dumpty word See also en Pickwickian References Humptydumptyism on the Consumerium Development Wiki. en eponyms