As opposed to "health", you might guess. I found the word in a Books and Culture article by Eugene McCarraher called The False Gospel of Work. It is John Ruskin's word, and he seems to have used it as a dark synonyn for "wealth" (in Unto This Last). He defined it as "that which causes devastation and trouble in all directions." Hmmm. That should have entered the lexicon long ago, but it seems to have languished in the pages of Ruskin till now. Let's try changing that. Introduce the word to your friends. Use it once a week or so in an offhand and casual way. We need a word like this.
Oh, and by the way, the whole article is really interesting. You might call it, "Down with the American Work Ethic." A good read.
4 comments:
Great post mate. Happy Thanksgiving Bob, and may the Lord bless you and your family abundantly!
Be encouraged.
GBYAY
Thanks, John. Our Thanksgiving was indeed happy! Nice of you to think of it, way "down under" as you are!
I will try to spread the word. That word, particularly.
Hey, great post. You'll be happy to know "illth" is making it into my next book, tentatively titled "Agile+Rigor," which is about the Agile software development process.
I'm using illth in terms of an Agile team in a non-Agile organization. If the Agile team is not careful, they will create problems for the teams around them, thus "illth."
It's a fun word. Too bad it isn't in dictionary.com, and I've found at least five different definitions of it (and three original sources). Oh well.
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