Talk:possimism

RFV discussion: March–July 2018
"A way of thinking in which one is basically pessimistic, but manages to use it to one's advantage." Equinox ◑ 23:23, 21 March 2018 (UTC)


 * cited Kiwima (talk) 22:40, 22 March 2018 (UTC)


 * I think some are typos for "pessimism". Look at the actual meaning of the 1982 cite, for instance: it's saying nobody need feel negative because things are good. Equinox ◑ 12:14, 23 March 2018 (UTC)


 * Given the proposed senses, it is incredibly difficult to tell which cites actually support them. 1982 and 1943 seem to be clear typos, and many others are suggestive of that; certainly none of them gloss the very rare and unexpected word, if it actually exists. 1978 is odd because it also uses "possionate" in the next sentence; there is clearly some kind of affectation or continued mistake being made there. I would consider this not cited, and by looking at BGC, I don't see how it can be. —Μετάknowledge discuss/deeds 13:11, 6 June 2018 (UTC)


 * Regarding sense 1: The 1958 citation doesn't make sense with definition 1 (which it is currently under) subbed in, although it sort-of makes sense with definition 2 subbed in. But the book uses "pessimism" and "pessmistic" elsewhere, and never uses "possimism" again AFAICT, so it seems likely this one usage is a typo if the typed letter is not, in fact, outright an indistinct e. The 1978 citation doesn't make much sense with def 1 subbed in, either, but seems to just mean pessimism, which is the spelling used elsewhere in the work; together with the possionate typo Meta notes, it seems like that use, too, is a typo. 1979 also seems better explained as a typo for pessimism (by non-native speakers/editors?). I would say it fails RFV. - -sche (discuss) 07:22, 28 July 2018 (UTC)
 * Sense 2's quotations also seem more likely to be (and perhaps impossible to distinguish from) typos. I've functionally deleted the entry as RFV-failed, although I kept the quotations (and indeed the entire edit history) visible to non-admins by moving it to the talk page (see its edit history), where this discussion will go. - -sche (discuss) 07:28, 28 July 2018 (UTC)