awfulize

v. to imagine or predict the worst circumstances or outcome. Subjects: English

Editorial Note: The first cite is an unrelated nonce usage.

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Citations: [1974 Arthur Allen Leff Virginia Law Review (Mar.) “Commentaries on Richard A. Posner’s ‘Economic Analysis of Law’” vol. 60, no. 3, p. 460: It is a most common experience in law schools to have someone say, of some action or state of events, “how awful,” with the clear implication that reversing it will de-awfulize the world to the full extent of the initial awfulness.] 1980 Sharon A. Terry-Haag Family Relations (July) “Review: Sex and the Liberated Man” vol. 29, no. 3, p. 417: He highlights and subsequently shatters a multitude of erroneous myths that are conceived within the particularly large cleavage between what one feels he “should” or “must” do, and what he wants to do or does. His technique? Quite simply, anti-awfulizing—which seems to be proposed as the panacea for everything from impotence to omnipotence. He instructs his reader to focus on pleasuring himself and his partner and to learn to accept himself as he is. 1981 Albert B. Crenshaw Washington Post (Jan. 11) “Don’t blame others for stress you can handle” p. B8: Awfulizing is “terminal pessimism,” which turns a half-hour delay into a global crisis. 2005 Kelly Griffith Orlando Sentinel (Florida) (July 3) “Bits and bytes to ponder, even avoid”: Heard a new word recently and decided I like it. Awfulizing is the practice of thinking something is so horrible and so awful that there’s no other way to feel but depressed, dejected and without hope. Awfulizing drags people into pitiful states of despair—usually needlessly. If you catch yourself awfulizing, stop and ask yourself, “what’s really the worst thing that can possibly happen here?”

Posted 6 Jul 05 | Permalink | Tell a Friend

Reader comments:

Years ago I was told that people in some social-science field use the verb “horribilize” in a similar sense. Sociology? It means selectively considering the negative aspects of a question and following their implications down the worst path. It’s different from despair or depression because it’s active. But I can’t document horribilize (or even be sure that’s how it is spelled).

by Ben Teague 13 Dec 06, 1057 GMT