From Raleigh Roark
Vashon, Washington
It is ironic that nominative determinism should rear its silly head once
again, in the same issue (Feedback, 16 November, p 88) that Bernard Dixon
“traces 40 years of the magazine’s evolution”, while totally omitting the
lighter side of New Scientist (Forum, p 57).
What of Ariadne, whose insane inventions were clearly impossible, but yet
were equally (almost) impossible to debunk? Then there was Bill Tidy’s
“Grimbledon Down”, the zany strip taking place in a research facility. There was
even a spate of “nominative determinism” about 20 years ago, only it wasn’t
called that then—such names were called “aptonyms” or “aponyms”.
For a Christmas present next year, how about a double-issue retrospective of
humour from New Scientist?
