A small number of terms are elevated from the pages of literature, up to the Mount Olympus of blog post vernacular. Moloch, as the dark god of failed coordination problems. The Dark Forest, as domains where there's active incentive not to be noticed. And from Ursula K. Le Guin, the Omelas child, a person whose suffering is a counterweight to the joys of others.[1]

This post is an attempt to elevate another of Le Guin's terms to the blog post realm. That term is shifgrethor.

Definition

Shifgrethor hails from The Left Hand of Darkness, Le Guin's most celebrated standalone novel. In the novel, it's an untranslatable alien concept, the sense of honor on the planet Gethen.

But basically, it boils down to an injunction against advice.

In the book, “shifgrethor” comes from “an old word for shadow”. Individuals have shifgrethor, and various slights can offend [...]

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Outline:

(00:36) Definition

(01:40) Examples

(03:35) Why a new term?

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