gossipology/ist + fakexpert

[Victor Steinbok]

What brought me to the blog called Gossipology was the fact that the
word appeared in a rather different meaning. The blog was started back
in 2006 and had a total of 4 posts--three within the first week and
another in 2009. The original intent was to combine gossip+-ology for an
analysis/knowledge of gossip.

http://gossipology.blogspot.com/

Clearly the effort did not succeed, aside from a possible late
additional cite for OED for one of the uses of "snatch" (snatch n.
14--last cite in 1978).

http://goo.gl/X574C
> Jenny of I Don't Like You That Way thinks PJ Harvey, a musician she
> cheerfully admits to knowing nothing about, should get her snatch waxed.

The same use of "gossipology" shows up here in 2005.

http://goo.gl/NcION

And it does seem to imply general understanding of "gossip" (actually,
specifically, celebrity gossip):

http://goo.gl/hH7nw
> QUALIFICATIONS
> A:A good first degree in gossipology and intimidation tactics.
> B: Proficiency in the use of information communication technology;
> especially the use of PMs, Facebook, skype and others.
> C: Reasonable Pmming experience.

But the "gossipology" I was trying to locate is a portmanteau of
gossip+psychology--not quite the same thing. There are plenty of ghits
for "gossipology" (~37K raw), fewer for "gossipologist" (~6K raw), but
most appear to be spurious. Most of the real ones appear to be of the
first variety, although a few people have picked up on the second, which
carries a heavy negative connotation (see below).

It all started with a blog post on a NYT story of the interview of the
ex-girlfriend of the Tucson shooter Loughner who claimed that he is
faking mental illness. Sure enough, a comment linked to an Ira
Rosofsky's blog post at Psychology Today, decrying the desire to
diagnose mental illness from a brief description in a newspaper or even
from a couple of YouTube videos. (He is off by a few hours on who had
the first "diagnosis", as Rand Paul offered his "medical opinion" even
earlier).

In particular, Rosofsky cites a blog post by "a UK psychologist, Gary Wood":

http://psycentral.wordpress.com/tag/gossipologists/
Vegetarians Don't Eat Meat and Proper Psychologists Don't Gossip About
Celebrities!
18 December, 2009
> I've read of so-called reputable psychologists (read
> '*gossipologists*') offering mental health diagnoses of celebrities.

If "gossipologist" in this sense takes off (doubtful), this would be the
starting point. But "gossipology" only shows up here as a tag.

In the line above the one I cited, there is another "coinage" that might
be of interest.

> They [sic] only time I make an exception is when everyone jumps on the
> bandwagon and bullies a celebrity, as in the over-night fame of Susan
> Boyle and subsequent press intrusion and 'expert' (*fakexpert*)
> speculation. . . even then it's only to counter the BS.

Both terms--fakexpert and gossipology--were actually "coined" by Wood a
few months earlier, as far as I can tell.

http://goo.gl/UMrex
Gender, Cave People & an Apology for Psychology
23 June, 2009
> Now we expect the host of 'fakexperts' to resort to 'cavepeople'
> analogies because many of them may well not be expert at interpreting
> research data or know where to find evidence-based resources.
> ...
> Invariably,  what we have is not even an apology for psychology but
> bull-shit based psychobabble and 'gossipology'.

Interestingly, one can find random comments in other places that mention
"fakexpert", which is why I qualified "coined" with quotation marks, but
none in UK:

1.
http://goo.gl/dsVSG
Posted by Dauntless
3 Feb 2009 12:33:46 GMT
> doesn't have a Cn capsule :(
> the lil girlie has never even seen one for real :)
> all big 'fakexpert' talk is on the web!
> whatta Looo000SER!!

2.
http://goo.gl/X9PE6
Posted by DST4ME
29 Oct 2008 at 12:16pm [time zone? The company is from California]
> but ya nothing is guaranteed, but if you want to go with what happens
> most times, then most times the q9650 will OC higher then q9550, and
> if you come across anybody that thinks most times the q9550 will OC
> higher, then don't let that person touch your PC cause thats a "fakexpert"

3.
http://goo.gl/a5FEh
Posted by saleemkhan
02:07 PM EDT April 13, 2008
> We (journalists) must blame ourselves for poor choices & creating
> fakexperts<http://twitter.com/saleemkhan/statuses/788370247>

4.
http://goo.gl/CvypV
Posted by indiefan23
06-15-2009, 01:47 PM (GMT -4)
> I wrote about the fakexperts here... Annoyed with the silly fools, I
> am, so I made fun of them instead.

5.
http://goo.gl/XjRzf
Posted by madnice
Friday, November 16, 2007 8:34:00 AM
> see thats why you have blog. i havent seen the "fakexperts" mention this.

6.
http://goo.gl/suyHd
Posted by madnice
Thursday, May 08, 2008 10:23:00 AM
> And these clowns fakexperts need to calm down thinking that Paul has
> reinvented the position.

7.
http://goo.gl/cgvCj
Posted by madnice
Tuesday, June 03, 2008 9:08:00 AM [time zone?]
> Its about time people are realizing your work, David. All of the other
> sites, stupid nba shows, and fakexperts are no where near.


To be honest, I am not entirely sure how to pronounce "fakexpert". Now,
"sexpert" I can deal with--that's easy!

I've heard both "fakespert" and "gossipology" (but not "gossipologist")
live--occasionally from friends and once or twice from TV, although I
would be hard pressed to cite chapter and verse. "Sexpert" is quite
common and I am not going to bother with it.

     VS-)

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