"accidie, n." - Word of the Day from the OED

[Joseph Tracy]

That torpor can do some sneaky-ass malaisin, especially if your girlfriend dumps you.  So what's up if you feel better after denial? For my own part, I just want to say that at his time my client  neither denies nor affirms the he or she is either troubled or untroubled by the existence, non-existence, parallel existence, or existential existence pertaining to the exchange of bodily fluids or sudsiness at this or any other car wash.
On Jan 5, 2012, at 10:42 PM, David Morris wrote:

> Happy might be your torpor in disguise.
> 
> On Thursday, January 5, 2012, Ian Livingston <igrlivingston at gmail.com> wrote:
> > I deny the existence of Gasteriskd, Ghyphend, and Gunderscored, and I
> > welcome anyone who believes in any of them to demonstrate that they
> > are happier than I am. Spiritual malaise rarely troubles me, except
> > sometimes when I don't get enough sunlight. But I really don't think
> > that's the same as accidia.
> >
> > On Thu, Jan 5, 2012 at 6:12 PM, Charles Albert <cfalbert at gmail.com> wrote:
> >> I first came across it in an Irving Howe essay on Fathers & Sons in which he
> >> defined it as "that torpor of the spirit which derives its strength from the
> >> denial of the existence of G*d."
> >>
> >> For some reason it has stuck with me for more than 30 years...
> >>
> >> love,
> >> cfa
> >>
> >>
> >> On Thu, Jan 5, 2012 at 6:15 AM, Mark Kohut <markekohut at yahoo.com> wrote:
> >>>
> >>> And it seems Mr. Sacred & Profane Durkheim raised awareness
> >>> of this word/concept high in his book Suicide.....
> >>>
> >>> ----- Original Message -----
> >>> From: Dave Monroe <against.the.dave at gmail.com>
> >>> To: pynchon -l <pynchon-l at waste.org>
> >>> Cc:
> >>> Sent: Wednesday, January 4, 2012 7:49 PM
> >>> Subject: Fwd: "accidie, n." - Word of the Day from the OED
> >>>
> >>> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> >>> From:  <oedwotd at oup.com>
> >>> Date: Wed, Jan 4, 2012 at 7:30 PM
> >>> Subject: "accidie, n." - Word of the Day from the OED
> >>> To: OEDWOTD-AMER-L at webber.uk.hub.oup.com
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> OED Online Word of the Day
> >>>
> >>> The December 2011 quarterly update is now available. New words from
> >>> across the dictionary include bibimbap, chermoula, earworm,
> >>> posilutely, and traceur. Find out more...
> >>>
> >>> ________________________________
> >>>
> >>> Your word for today is: accidie, n.
> >>>
> >>> accidie, n.
> >>> Pronunciation: Brit. /ˈaksᵻdi/,  U.S. /ˈæksədi/
> >>> Forms: α.   ME accedie,   ME accidy,   ME accidye,   ME–15 accydye,
> >>> ME– accidie.  β.   ME accide,   ME accyde.
> >>> Etymology: <  Anglo-Norman accidie (13th cent.), Anglo-Norman and Old
> >>> French, Middle French accide (13th cent.; French accide, now arch.) <
> >>> post-classical Latin accidia (8th cent. in a British source; also in
> >>> an undated glossary; occasionally also as acidia and accedia),
> >>> alteration (see below) of acedia spiritual sloth, mental weariness
> >>> (5th cent., as also as name of one of the deadly sins: see acedia n.).
> >>> Compare accidia n., and later acedia n. and acedy n.
> >>> The post-classical Latin form accidia probably results either from
> >>> folk-etymological association with accidere (see accident n.) or from
> >>> a Greek sound change, or may partly reflect both causes. The rare form
> >>> acidia probably reflects the (folk-etymological) association with
> >>> classical Latin acidus sour (see acid adj.) recorded by Caesarius of
> >>> Heisterbach (13th cent.).
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> In Middle English and early modern English the position of the main
> >>> stress apparently varied between the first and second syllables.
> >>>  Now chiefly arch. and literary.
> >>>   Physical or mental slothfulness, esp. as a condition leading to
> >>> listlessness and lack of interest in life; apathy, lethargy, torpor;
> >>> (also) †an instance of this (obs.).
> >>> Regarded esp. in early use as characteristic of or equivalent to the
> >>> ‘deadly sin’ of Sloth, and in Christian asceticism as a condition to
> >>> which monks and hermits were particularly liable.
> >>> ?c1225 (1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 155 Þenne is hit
> >>> scheomeles [read ȝemeles] under accidie, þet ich slauðe cleopede, þe
> >>> ne warneð oðer of his lure oðer of his biȝete.
> >>> c1330 (1300) Speculum Guy (Auch.) l. 121 Accedie is as sleuþes broþer,
> >>> Wicke on and wicke oþer.
> >>> a1393  Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) iv. l. 539 To serve Accidie in
> >>> his office, Ther is of Slowthe an other vice, Which cleped is<--
> > "Less than any man have I  excuse for prejudice; and I feel for all
> > creeds the warm sympathy of one who has come to learn that even the
> > trust in reason is a precarious faith, and that we are all fragments
> > of darkness groping for the sun. I know no more about the ultimates
> > than the simplest urchin in the streets." -- Will Durant
> >