prospiracy

n. a secret plan by a group to do something beneficial. Subjects: English

Editorial Note: Rather than originating with a single instance or person, this word is regularly re-coined as the antonym of “conspiracy.”

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Citations: 1897 Gelett Burgess Vivette: Or, The Memoirs of the Romance Association p. 141: Prospiracy. A Sheep in Wolf’s Clothing. 1989 Sydney Morning Herald (Australia) (Mar. 11) “Guilty Parties” p. 84: The notion of plotting evil in secret prompted Mr Stuart Hansman, of Cronulla, to write to Dr W.S.Ramson, editor of the Australian National Dictionary. He felt that there was a huge potential for good in practising the opposite of a conspiracy, that is, a meeting of two or more people to achieve worthy objectives. He could not think of an English word to cover this. He put forward the idea of prospire, prospiracy and prospirator. 2007 Jason Schissel Jason’s Fresh Produce (Jan. 12) “New Word: Prospiracy”: A pro-spiracy is like a con-spiracy, except instead of plotting against you, people are plotting for you. For instance, if we were to discover that, for years the government had been siphoning money out of wasteful, inefficient programs and secretly spending it on health care and education, it would be the result of a massive prospiracy.

Posted 15 Jan 07 | Permalink | Tell a Friend

Reader comments:

Thank you for printing the article of the Sydney Morning Herald by Dr W.S. Ramson , Editor of Australian National Dictionary ,on 11th March , 1989 re the new words :
Prospiracy and Prospirator and Prospire .
I am hopeful these new words will have future merit if used , globally !

Stuart Hansman
Cronulla , NSW ,
Australia
27th may 2007

Originator of these three new words
in 1989

by Stuart Hansman J P. 27 May 07, 0657 GMT

If you’d read more carefully, you’d see there is an 1897 citation for the word “prospiracy.” You could only be said to be a re-originator of the word.

by Grant Barrett 27 May 07, 1139 GMT