This is a word that I love, but never get to use. There is simply never a good time for it. Random House defines it as
a subtle, tricky, superficially plausible, but generally fallacious method of reasoning.
The American Heritage Dictionary calls it
Plausible but fallacious argumentation.
We encounter sophistry every day — from the media, our friends, our colleagues and bosses — and yet there never seems to be a time when one could actually say “well, that’s just sophistry!” You’d sound like a douche talking like that. In fact, the only time I can imagine when the word “sophistry” would come in handy is when you’re talking specifically about sophistry.
How did this happen? How did such a lovely and seemingly useful word get relegated to Word-of-the-Day calendars and campy blog posts?
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