I got an e-mail today from an address that I didn't recognise with the subject title of 'probalism'. I'll admit that I hadn't really thought much of the concept in months and didn't immediately recognise the meaning of the word. Intrigued, I opened the message.
Hi, I am Rebecca Iocca. On my website I a section concerning "probalism". It is the one with the manhole cover. I would like to thank you for posting probalism on the halfbakery.com website. I used your definition of probalism on my website. If you would like to see it just click on this link: www.iocca.us .
Liberty Always,
Rebecca Iocca
I wrote a definition of something? I could only presume that this was a mistake and that she was thinking of someone entirely different. Just to check, I loaded up halfbakery and searched for 'probalism'. I found this quote by me from ages gone by, on [theircompetitor]'s idea 'Why Put Up With The Full Moon'. The quote was with regard to how the moon came to be owned.
It was via the "science" of probalism, which reverses the onus of proof. Allowing for people to make outlandish claims, and someone else has to then come up with proof to refute them. It's also why the centre of the universe is supposedly a manhole cover in Idaho.
hidden truths, Nov 09 2005
The actual link to the relevant page where my quote can be found is
here.
This made me wonder. How on earth was a half thought out halfbakery annotation worthy of this accolade (not that I'm complaining naturally). So I tried googling for 'probalism' and I found out why.
It's not a word.
This article is in fact the first result on google for probalism. It isn't recognised by google, nor dictionary.com as a word. '
Probabilism' is suggested as the correct spelling, but is involved in determining things based upon probability, which doesn't appear to be the same thing as the two suggested claims.
I've had a look at the site for the town claiming to contain the centre of the universe and it categorically states that it is home to the "Probalistic Center of the Universe". Looking further around related sites provides this handy little extract from a speech by the town's mayor (which after careful reflection, I have realised is also on that earlier linked probalism page):
"... Thanks to the newly discovered science of "Probalism" - specifically probalistic modeling, pioneered by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Health and Welfare, and peer-reviewed by La Cosa Nostra and the Flat Earth Society - we were further able to pinpoint the exact center within the Center of the Universe; to wit: a sewer access cover slightly off-center from the intersection of Bank and Sixth Streets.
....
The science of Probalism has its roots in the 2002 EPA Coeur d'Alene Basin Record of decision, and as a syllogism expresses itself thusly: if a thing cannot be disproven, it is thereby proven. Thus if the communities of the Silver Valley cannot absolutely prove themselves to the EPA's satisfaction to be good and healthy places to live, then this is proof that they require the EPA's continued meddling in their affairs."
So the question is; did someone misspell 'probabilism' (this would also require the mayor to have no idea what probabilism actually is) and I unwittingly copied it? Or have I unwittingly become part of a grass-roots campaign to introduce a new word to the English language? Either way, I wrote something either interesting enough or badly spelled enough for a person who I have never met to decide to use it as part of an online article, and I'm quite proud of that.
