The self-help industry belief that the more mangled, gnomic and purple the statement, the more profound its meaning. Shaved of context and loofah-ed of meaning, aphorism blends with platitude until, eventually, it all dissolves into a guffstorm of beautifully presented nothingness. Bite-sized dollops of you-go-girls motivation amid the tinkle of wind-chimes and PR-buffed woo-woo.

Private Eye 1514, page 35

Stephan Pastis Pearls before swine


The Orwelexicon: Neologisms for Bias and Dysfunctions in Academia



Private Eye

Factose Intolerance (medical condition): The condition brought about by the incomplete digestion of facts. Extreme side effects of prolonged episodes of Factose Intolerance include a temporary inability to digest truthiness.

Wikiality represents a reality where, if enough people agree with a notion, it becomes the truth. Thus, an essential element of wikiality is the rapidity with which its corrosive, virus-like effects destroy the facts, but not the truth, which it actually helps spread.

(The Colbert Report)

Private Eye 1544

When a woman reaches orgasm with a man she is only collaborating with the patriarchal system eroticising her own oppression.

Sheila Jeffreys