Irregular Word of the Week: Ganser Syndrome
by Billy Joe Mills • Mar 11th, 2009 at 8:20 pm • 2 comments
This is an Irregular Word of the Week post both because the word itself is irregular and because I irregularly post words of the week, which makes the title of “Word of the Week” a lie.
Today I learned the phrase “Ganser Syndrome” from a cynical 1957 Time Magazine review of Jack Kerouac’s most famous novel, On the Road.
A pseudo-psychotic condition typically occurring in individuals feigning insanity and characterized by wrong but related answers to questions.
Left to Right: Lucien Carr, Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, William S. Burroughs. Did they all suffer/prosper from Ganser Syndrome?
Comment by Take the extra 5 seconds, Billy Joe. on 12 March 2009 at 9:10 pm:
wrong. again.
http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/287390-overview
maybe next time consult something other than answers.com.
Comment by Billy Joe Mills on 12 March 2009 at 11:57 pm:
I actually did read the medical definition of the word before posting this, but my understanding of Ganser Syndrome is that its non-medical, literary definition is someone who feigns insanity, which makes it a useful word.
Also, Answers.com is not like Wikipedia. It does not generate content, it cites to content from other sources. The definition I posted happens to be from “The American Heritage Stedman’s Medical Dictionary.” Do you have reason or authority to doubt the authenticity of this publication? (http://www.answers.com/library/Medical+Dictionary-cid-954426). You can tell that Answers.com cites to this publication if you click on “Medical Dictionary” in the path of links above the definition that looks like this: Home > Library > Health > Medical Dictionary.
Furthermore, what you linked to doesn’t contradict the short definition that Answers.com gives. It expounds upon the short definition, especially the second half of it, “characterized by wrong but related answers to questions.”
Perhaps you should taken an extra 10 seconds.