A self-fullfilling prophecy - in a word

[BSturdy]

Hey there forum

I was reading The Heart of the Matter by Graham Greene recently and came across an interesting word ('coneism' with an acute accent on the e). I wrote it in the back of the book along with his definition in the text as meaning a self-fulfilling prophecy. When a few days later I looked it up in the shorter oxford dictionary - nada, zip, nil, nothing

Presumably I misspelt the word - If anyone can shed some light on this it would be very much appreciated (I do not want to trawl back to find it)

Hoping someone can help : )

[den]

Sorry can't help you out, a google search for `coneism' doesn't bring anything up or any other suggestions but `contest'. It doesn't come up in Wickipedia either.

Can you find it in the book again, and tell us the sentence it's used in to get the context? I don't know what else to suggest ...

Oh but welcome to the forums!

[BSturdy]

Thanks Den - I did try a few searches too. Suppose I will have to find it again. Will let you know if I do. Flippin' dyslexia

Reading 'Red Dust' by Ma Jian at the moment - about China. A doctor in the book has a friend visiting and has nothing to cook. He ends up cooking a specimen of an owl preserved in formalin with ginger - they agree that it tasted ok

[Deep Space Bass]

It might have been a portmantaeu word.

[BSturdy]

Thanks for that DeepSpace - A v.interesting suggestion. Kind of regretting that I mentioned this now as I feel I should identify the exact word and context!

[den]

portmanteau ... ha, now I had to look up that word, I knew it as a noun but forgot that portmanteau words are actually quite common in english.

[den]

"Robert K. Merton is usually acknowledged as the maker of this phrase (self-fulfilling prophecy) and using it in sociology."

From --->this<--- (http://www.brainyencyclopedia.com/encyclopedia/s/se/self_fulfilling_prophecy.html) site.

[BSturdy]

Hey Den - I admit that I did have to remind myself of what a portmanteau word is! It makes sense that it was one of these since Greene gave the definition of the word in the text.

That satisfies me anyway as I have better things to do than look through the book for that word again (did look briefly but didn't find it) - I feel that it is actually unlikely that I spelt it wrong (but possible as I do get things the wrong way around very often). If I read it again some day I will find out.

[Shea]

Hi BSturdy, my unviersity has a subscription to the full OED online, so I looked up your word and it told me to see "conine" for which the definition is:

An alkaloid (C8H15N) which forms the poisonous principle of hemlock (Conium maculatum); it is an oily liquid, with a peculiar suffocating odour, and violently poisonous, producing paralysis of the terminations of the motor nerves, and consequent asphyxia. Also conia, conicine.

Is this self-fufilling prophesy dangerous? :p I've never heard of that book.

[BSturdy]

Hey Shea - Thank you so much for your reply - that is the meaning of the word! Yes the prophecy is dangerous, poisonous! And knowing that word would make the book even better as that heightens the tension without giving anything away.

I started to describe the plot in this message but that would ruin it for other readers. The book is about humanity, religion and dilemmas. There is a terrible catch-22 for the main character It is a great book but intensely sad.

Thanks again - I am indebted to you.

[Shea]

Just peel my grapes and fan me with a palm frond! :p Just kidding! I'm happy to help!