this post was submitted on 15 Nov 2024
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[–] [email protected] 17 points 21 hours ago (9 children)

kak·i·sto·cra·cy

noun

Government by the least suitable or competent citizens of a state.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

On behalf of all the Welsh people I know would you have a problem with “cac” rather than the Dutch based (?) “kak” in this word?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 17 hours ago (2 children)

"Kak" is from Greek. "Cac" is an alternate spelling coming from the same root via French, as in "cacophony" or

[–] [email protected] 3 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 16 hours ago)

I've recently started coming up with new words by changing eu- (meaning good) into caco-. You get some great ones like:

  • cacophoria
  • cacovangelium
  • cacogenics
  • cacology
  • cacophemism

And my favourite, cacothanasia.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

Interesting. I know “kak” from Afrikaans and “cachu” from Welsh. I’ve never seen the word definitively derived from Greek; I always believed the root was from PIE language. What do I know?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

I looked up the Dutch "kak" and that's pretty funny. It means "bad" in Greek, but the Dutch meaning still works great - rule by the shittiest people.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 16 hours ago

Yeah - I assumed “shit (people)” was what we were going for; “k” doesn’t exist in Welsh so I asked for the alt spelling. Cacophony then translated as “shit sound” in my head - which again, kind of, works. Language is difficult.

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