Cool! I’m a Diogenist

I was admiring Keith’s remodel of his Word Shadows blog when I noticed that his link to HinesSight now was in a “Diogenist” category.

Wow! My heart fluttered. Diogenist sounded so cool.

At first. Then I started to wonder if it meant what I thought it did: someone who, like Diogenes, searches for an honest man or, more broadly, truth.

Maybe it’s really an insult, something bad, like misogynist. I rushed to my dictionary.

And couldn’t find it. “Diogenes,” yes. “Diogenist,” no.

Clicked on to Google. Found a mere 36 entries. None seemed to be informative.

Keith, man—I think you’ve come up with a new word. Congratulations!

In hopes that the search engines will find this post, I hereby declare that Keith, a.k.a. Imaginary Keith, a.k.a. the Garden Poet, has revealed a new word to the world: Diogenist.

Of course, he might have stolen it from someone else. In which case I take back what I just said.

In any event, a Word Generation Prize will soon arrive in Keith’s mailbox. It may look a lot like payment for a Garden Poet tree-cutting and pruning bill that I’ve had for a while, but it should be considered a literary prize.

In Imaginary Keith’s mind, at least.

Comments

[Keith]

I'm happy to say I came up with that word all on my own, and if it is in fact a new word, I would define it as a good word. The Diogenist is the person who openly, honestly, and untiringly searches for truth. I would like to think I am a Diogenist, although recently I'll admit to being only a part-time one.

The candle is, of course, optional.

[Dimitris]

I am not so sure that it is a word that has being coined only by you. In this country I have heard of some rare cases of people that call themselves a Diogenist. They are strongly opposing anything christian starting from Jews and ending to anything that has to do with Christ and his followers. I do not know much but this is all I have heard.