BRITNEY PANTYGATE! PHUN! E-SENSE ! HUMEAN BEINGS!

[Jonathan Lighter]

2006_Fox Online_ (FNC TV show) (Dec. 7): Britney Spears...in the scandal that some are calling Pantygate.

  This "-gate" is unusual for being applied to a noncriminal act by a nonpolitical (yeah, I know: evrybody's "political") individual.

  Furthermore:

  2006 Raymond Tallis in _Philosophy Now_ (No. 57) (Sept.-Oct.) 8: "Phun"-obsessed individuals...increasingly approximate to the condition of "_Humean_ beings....The attenuation of presence by e-sense - the inability to sit still while endless reaching out towards, and receiving input from, an electronic elsewhere."

  "Phun" _appears_ to mean "fun that is frenetically sought in an entertainment-saturated consumerist society."   A zillion raw Googlits as a simple respelling of "fun."

  "Humean being": "a person debased by phun."

  "E-sense": "a strong desire to use the Internet."

  Prof. Tallis, formerly of the University of Manchester, is a philosopher who has been recognized as one of Britain's "top 100 public intellectuals."

  JL


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