Talk:incomprehension

Lacking a Void?

Please post sources and references for changes to the definition here. Verifiable quotes from respected writers or news sources with respected editors.--Halliburton Shill 15:30, 16 April 2006 (UTC)

Sorry, but SemperBlotto's definition looks more accurate to me too. Kipmaster 16:08, 16 April 2006 (UTC)

I'll leave for now, but I still expect sources. That shouldn't be a problem if this is actually preferred meaning. See the references I added to incomprehensible, the adj form.--Halliburton Shill 16:46, 16 April 2006 (UTC)

The quotations you added have 3 issues. One is that neither express a lesser magnitude of incomprehension than absolute (listless, like derisive, simply describes incomprehension, not the potential degree of it). 2, they are over 100 years old. 3, neither are well read books, 1 bordering on obscure.--Halliburton Shill 16:53, 16 April 2006 (UTC)

References, one agrees with "lack", the other uses an equivalent of not without qualification, want. I still prefer actual usage by recognized writers to what somebody compiling a dictionary provides.--Halliburton Shill 17:04, 16 April 2006 (UTC)

Redundancy

Another issue I have turning this into a relative definition is that comprehension already takes care of the relative states. One has little comprehension. One has great comprehension. There's no point having another word that simply does the same thing, but in a negative way.--Halliburton Shill 17:14, 16 April 2006 (UTC)

Usage Samples

• "'There is misunderstanding and incomprehension about the direction of my action -- I profoundly regret it,' he said in the interview."[1]--Halliburton Shill 18:56, 16 April 2006 (UTC)
• "An earlier invevstigation by the Army had cleared the soldiers involved, but the TRAG report said 'the Army inquiry conclusions were not supported by the evidence – including the testimony of the soldiers themselves – and expressed incomprehension that crucial footage shot by Kadhem had somehow been lost by the military.'"[2]--Halliburton Shill 18:56, 16 April 2006 (UTC)
• "... determined to preserve her incomprehension intact." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World

Thousands more book quotes via Amazon. 1st 20 results had no examples of it being used on a relative scale. The closest remain samples of redundant writing like "utter incomprehension". Yes, and let's all live life in blind faith.

• From Oxford Thesaurus An A-Z Dictionary of Synonyms, the only entry that includes incomphrehension:

  vacancy n. 1 emptiness, void, gap, lacuna, hiatus, blank, deficiency, opening, breach, vacuum: Only after she left did Hubert sense the vacancy in his life. 2 (job) opening, slot, position, post, situation: Her promotion created a vacancy in the personnel department. 3 blankness, emptiness, vacuity, absent-mindedness, inanity, vacuousness, incomprehension, fatuity, unawareness: I knew by the vacancy of his look that he hadn't any idea of what I was talking about.

• "They think they won't be able to understand it so naturally they can't understand it. As soon as you step into the box you see a curtain of obstinate incomprehension clanging down over their minds." - P.D. James, Death of an Expert Witness, 1977