IWVPA Club Theme Project
June 2005: CYNIC/CYNICAL
- Bass: Robin Amy
- Bone: Tim
- Jones: Colin F.
- Kirkmeyer: Mark I.
- Murphy: Monica L.
- Pahl: Anthony W.
- Pollerana: Roberta
- Sharik: Christina A.
- Sizemore: Faye
- Spittle: Ann-Marie
- Willbond: Billy
- Woodfork: Thurman P.
Cynic (n): A cynic attributes selfish motives to all acts. Sceptic; (or in US spelling skeptic) scoffer, misanthrope, pessimist.
Cynical (adj): With his cynical attitude he does not trust anyone. Sceptical, misanthropic, disbelieving, sardonic, scornful, sarcastic, derisive etc; and a whole heap more.
The word comes from the Greek kuon, dog, and its adjective kunikoi doglike, snarling.
To my mind it is a silly, stupid word used indiscriminately and incorrectly by many who do not really understand its complexity of meanings. For example, to refer to someone who is sarcastic, as cynical, or call someone cynical who is obnoxious is somewhat ambiguous in both cases, though the latter, I would suggest, might be the more accurate of the two.
Colin F. Jones
IWVPA Theme Co-ordinator
May 31, 2005