Ultracrepidarian

Hi, you have A Way with Words.

Hi, I’m Patrick Wilson from Dallas, Texas.

Well, welcome to the program, Patrick.

Thank you.

I have a question about the word ultra-crepidarian.

Oh, love it, love it, love it.

Where did you run across that word?

Yes, I ran across it in a book by legal writer Brian Garner.

Oh, of course.

We’re big fans.

Yes.

Brian Garner is one of my favorite authors of legal writing texts.

And so I read that it was the definition of somebody who doesn’t know what they’re talking about.

So you called us. I see.

Well, I was wondering how the word came about and was it ever used with any frequency?

I wouldn’t say any frequency, but I love this word and I love the etymology that goes along with it.

It’s actually an etymology that’s very, very clear and that we know.

So are you ready?

I am.

Okay.

The Latin word for sole of the shoe is crepita.

Okay.

Now, back in ancient times, there was a painter named Apelles who had a habit of doing full-length portraits of people and then displaying them so that everybody could see them.

And he would go and hide and eavesdrop to hear what their comments were.

So are you with me so far?

Yes.

Okay, so this painter, Apelles, is listening to people comment on his latest painting.

And a cobbler comes up, and he looks at the shoe that’s rendered in this painting, and he’s saying, no, that’s not right, it needs an extra loop.

And so Apelles comes out from hiding and says, oh, you’re right, okay, well, let me fix the shoe here.

So he fixes the shoe on the painting, and then the cobbler, emboldened, says, well, and you know, while you’re at it, the leg isn’t quite right.

And that’s when the painter says the Latin equivalent of mind your own business, stick to the soul, stick to the stuff you know, in other words.

So there was a famous Latin phrase that used the term crepita, which means soul of the shoe.

So the idea there was to mind your own business, don’t talk about things you don’t know about.

And for a cobbler, that would mean limit yourself to criticizing the soul of the shoe.

Yeah, lexicographer Eric Partridge phrased it this way, let not the cobbler judge in matters above his sandal.

I like that.

Yeah, exactly.

And in English, we have the expression, a cobbler should stick to his last, you know, his tool.

So that’s the idea.

And I think that the first reference we have to ultra-crepidarian in English was by the English essayist William Hazlitt in the late 19th century.

But it’s never been common, right?

It’s just an inkhorn term, which means people use it to show off.

An inkhorn term, yeah.

Yeah, well, I use it every day.

You and Brian Garner, what a pair.

Yeah, but do you use it in your daily life?

I’m trying to work it in more often, but it makes it more difficult when people have no idea what I’m talking about.

Yeah, that’s the problem, right?

Unless you’re talking to cobblers, I guess.

That’s wonderful. Thank you so much for your help.

It’s our pleasure. Thanks for calling, Patrick.

Yeah, we appreciate the opportunity to talk about that word.

Oh, thank you. Take care.

Bye-bye.

Bye-bye.

We like your stumpers. We like your long words, your crazy words, your made-up words, the stuff that just doesn’t make sense in the mouth that sounds good of the year.

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