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"accismus"
Definition: Coyness: a form of irony in which a person feigns a lack of interest in something that he or she actually desires.
Etymology:
From the Greek, coyness or affectation
Examples and Observations:
- "Accismus is showing no interest in something while secretly wanting it. It's a form of irony where one pretends indifference and refuses something while actually wanting it. In Aesop's fable, the fox pretends he doesn't care for the grapes."
(Anu Garg at Wordsmith.org)
- "My name is Elizabeth Urello. I currently live in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. I do not desire to be a writer/actor/comic/playwright/household name/superstar-personality, any more than I desire your good opinion. I do not desperately want more friends, and I am not badly in need of dates."
("About Elizabeth," at the blog Accismus)
- "Ask the price. Even if you think the price is cheap, it's not. If you look like a foreigner, the vendor will automatically offer a price several times greater than the price offered to locals. You should pretend to be surprised or outraged. Offer one-fifth the price."
("How to Haggle in China" at wikiHow)
- "[Fred Thompson's] speech touched on the war in Iraq, the economy and federalism, and on a more general theme: 'When you look at governmental functions, you see for the first time in our history this clearly: that the government can’t do some basic things that the government is supposed to do.' He mentioned the response to Hurricane Katrina.
"But maintaining a stance he has embraced for five months, he was only vague and coy as to a declared candidacy, even when there was a shout from the crowd: 'Hurry up and declare, already!'"
(Susan Saulny, "Thompson Woos Iowa, a Presidential Hopeful in All but Formality") The New York Times, August 18, 2007)
Pronunciation: ak-IZ-mus
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