Discussion Forum—A Way with Words, a fun radio show and podcast about language

But proverbs, whilst often metaphorical, don't use wordplay to insinuate that they contain wisdom. This is something a bit different, I think.

Exactly right, Martha. Now we just need a good name for them!

Chris

I remember an old “Deep Thoughts” bit on SNL that may have been intended as a parody of this variety of pseudo-profundity:

“Maybe in order to understand mankind we have to look at that word itself. MANKIND. Basically, it's made up of two separate words “mank” and “ind.” What do these words mean? It's a mystery and that's why so is mankind.”

It's not exactly the same kind of thing, but this is one piece of “pseduo-wisdom” that's overdue for a “retirement” in the Blade Runner sense of the word (the text at the beginning of the movie states that killing a replicant is euphemistically called a “retirement”):

danger + opportunity ≠ crisis

http://www.pinyin.info/chinese/crisis.html

Interestingly enough, the erroneous idea that Chinese uses the same character for “crisis” and “opportunity” has been spread by Presidents Kennedy and Nixon, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and even The Simpsons:

Lisa: Look on the bright side, Dad. Did you know that the Chinese use the same word for “crisis” as they do for “opportunity?”

Homer: Yes! Cris-atunity!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_translation_of_crisis

I can understand why people would find this idea attractive (and there may be some truth to the idea that, in crisis, there is sometimes opportunity), and I'm sure that some people would defend the use of this phrase, but it seems to me like it completely falls apart if you know that it's based on a misunderstanding of the Chinese language. Anyone have a better idea for a phrase that expresses the idea that opportunities can be found in chaotic situations? I have a feeling that there's probably a pre-existing phrase that serves a similar purpose, but I can't think of it right now.

Okay, BT, you want a new word that can refer to a pithy statement that is both profound and involves wordplay. My mind conjures a pundit who puns, so how about calling it a pundism, or simply a pund? Didn't Thoreau write Walden while living on Walden Pund?