[Search for users] [Overall Top Noters] [List of all Conferences] [Download this site]

Conference thebay::joyoflex

Title:The Joy of Lex
Notice:A Notes File even your grammar could love
Moderator:THEBAY::SYSTEM
Created:Fri Feb 28 1986
Last Modified:Mon Jun 02 1997
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:1192
Total number of notes:42769

584.0. "Kleptocracy anyone?" by SKIVT::ROGERS (But Otto, what about our relationship?) Fri Nov 04 1988 20:18

While listening to "All Things Considered" last evening, I heard someone refer 
to some of the post-colonial governments in Africa as "Kleptocracies".  In 
context it seemed quite apt, and could also be applied the the Marcos regime
in the Phillipines.  It would seem to mean rule by thieves, being derived from
the same root which gives us Kleptomania. 

I had never heard the word before and couldn't find it in two dictionaries 
that I had at home.  Is it a neologism, or has anyone seen it before?

While on the subject, what other "ocracies" have you seen?  There are several
Greek prefixes that are fairly common: 

	Democracy - Rule by the 'demos' or common people.
	Aristocracy - Rule by the 'best citizens'.
	Plutocracy - Rule by the wealthy.
	Autocracy - Rule by one.
	Theocracy - Rule by a religious group.

Any others?

Larry
T.RTitleUserPersonal
Name
DateLines
584.1The feeling I get every four years in NovemberRTOISB::TINIUSBe alert! America needs more lerts!Fri Nov 04 1988 21:185
    Mediocracy?

    
    
    Stephen
584.2Me, I just say mob ruleCLOSET::T_PARMENTERTongue in cheek, fist in air!Fri Nov 04 1988 21:384
    Ochlocracy = mob rule
    
    Under -cracy, I find monocracy, mobocracy, technocracy.
    
584.3EAGLE1::EGGERSTom, VAX & MIPS ArchitectureFri Nov 04 1988 21:403
    Re: .1
    
    Mediacracy = rule by newspaper and TV polls
584.4I've seen "Kleptocracy" for years.MINAR::BISHOPFri Nov 04 1988 22:4116
    The magazine "The Economist" has been using "kleptocracy" for
    some years now, as have "Reason" and "The Wall Street Journal".
    
    _Pace_ Aristotle, there are three kinds of government, each 
    appearing in good and debased forms.  His theory went like this:
    
    Monarchy's debased form is Tyranny.  Its natural evolution is
    to Aristocracy, whose debased form is Oligarchy.  Aristocratic
    states become Democratic, whose debased form is Anarchy.  A
    Democratic state naturally becomes a Tyranny, and a good Tyrant
    becomes a Monarch, restarting the cycle.
    
    Clearly Aristotle was too optimistic--a kleptocracy is an even
    more debased form of Oligarchy!
    
    			-John Bishop
584.5...I had a dreamNYSSA::BIELSKIlet there be LiteFri Nov 04 1988 22:4911
    
    goldacracy	- rule by the Golden Rule (unless it gets declared
    		  unconstitutional)
    
    hypacracy	- rule by a cynical sales manager (any similarity to
    		  "hype" is purely serendipitous)
    
    rolerevacracy  - rule by the least of all our citizens, as in "the
    		     last shall be first, and the first, last"
    
    I thought a Plutocracy happened only when Mickey Mouse took vacation.
584.6randomocracyMORO::BONNER_BOSome stunned by NewfoundlandSat Nov 05 1988 01:021
... is a concept that has long intrigued me.
584.7how to get to congressEAGLE1::EGGERSTom, VAX & MIPS ArchitectureSat Nov 05 1988 02:064
    How about	demeritocracy?
    
    It would go along with Mark Twain's comment that
    Congress was America's only native-born criminal class.
584.8infoMARVIN::KNOWLESthe teddy-bears have their nit-pickMon Nov 07 1988 14:2614
    Re .0
    
�    		It would seem to mean rule by thieves, being derived from
� the same root which gives us Kleptomania. 
�
� I had never heard the word before and couldn't find it in two dictionaries 
� that I had at home.  Is it a neologism, or has anyone seen it before?

    At first reading, I thought this question was about the root `klepto-'.
    Maybe it's not. Anyway, for what it's worth, I don't remember the
    Greek for thief, but there was certainly a verb `kleptein'.
    
    b 

584.9I was wrongNYSSA::BIELSKIlet there be LiteMon Nov 07 1988 14:276
    
    re: .5, rule by the Golden Rule is actually idealacracy, not 
    goldacracy as I erroneously stated earlier.  Sorry for taking so
    long to look it up.
    
    goldacracy is actually rule by very old-fashioned dentists.
584.10definitionMARKER::KALLISAnger's no replacement for reasonMon Nov 07 1988 16:039
    Re .9:
    
   >re: .5, rule by the Golden Rule is actually ...
    
   "He who has the gold makes the rules."
    
    -- Courtesy, _The Wizard of Id_ comic strip.
    
    Steve Kallis, Jr.  
584.11HSSWS1::DUANESend lawyers, guns, & moneyMon Nov 07 1988 19:333
    re:.7
    
    Pro is to con what progress is to congress.
584.12GoldacracyKAOO01::LAPLANTETue Nov 08 1988 13:426
    re: .9
    >goldacracy is actually rule by very old-fashioned dentists.
    
    I thought it was the rule of Israel by Mrs Meier.
    
    Roger
584.13Goldacracy revisited/explainedNYSSA::BIELSKIlet there be LiteTue Nov 08 1988 18:2111
    re .12 > I thought it (goldacracy) was the rule of Israel by Mrs Meier.<
    
	I'm pretty sure the dentists get the gold.
    
	I believe Mrs Meier was originally from Minnesota, or perhaps
    her parents were.  That would make the rule of Israel in her time
    "Minniacracy", which should not be put in the same class as 
    the Plutocracy of .5 - Minnie always took her vacations with Mickey
    and never made a grab for power, however short-lived.
    
584.14EAGLE1::EGGERSTom, VAX &amp; MIPS ArchitectureTue Nov 08 1988 19:476
    She was born in what is now part of the USSR. She was a school teacher
    in Milwaukee before moving to Israel, so the conjectures in .13 about
    Minniacracy are merely salacious rumor mongering.
    
    The appropriate word for power by people from Milwaukee is
    "Milwaukracy" or "Blatzed". 
584.15STKHLM::RYDENBird lives!Wed Nov 09 1988 09:073
    
    .12 .13 Meier = Meir
    Bo
584.16may I be excused?NYSSA::BIELSKI1000 pints of LiteWed Nov 09 1988 22:502
    
    skullacracy - rule by boneheads
584.17WELSWS::MANNIONA&#039; for the girdin&#039; o&#039; it!Tue Dec 20 1988 15:197
    From the Penguin Dictionary of Curious and Interesting Words comes
    coprocracy, which is the kind of government existing in various
    countries around the world, depending on one's point of view.
    
    Britain, for example.
    
    Phillip
584.18Speaking of the kleptocratTKOV51::DIAMONDThis note is illegal tender.Mon Apr 16 1990 07:5341
    Pretty late, but recalled by .0.
    
    (Any Marcos supporters, hit "next unseen" now.)
    (Or make yourself unseen.)
    
    
    
    Marcos had a mining company that was very successful.
    
    It was called "mine, mine, mine."
    
    
    Marcos brought peace and order to the Philippines.
    
    Imelda would say, "I want a piece of that land";
    Marcos would say, "That's an order."
    
    
    Reagan, Gorbachev, and Marcos were on a plane that was running
    low on fuel.  There was only one parachute.
    
    Gorbachev said, "I'm going to bring great things to the Soviet
    Union and to the world.  I need the parachute."
    
    Reagan said, "But I am most important.  Not only those who
    believe that style is needed in the White House, but also the
    free world's strongest economies depend on my policies.  I'm
    taking the parachute."
    
    Marcos said,
    
    "Let's take a vote."
    
    
    
    What was the nationality of Adam and Eve?
    
    Filipino.
    
    They didn't have food, clothing, or shelter, yet they were in
    paradise.