Persense

One of the recurring themes of this blog will be posts which are, ultimately, my attempt at achieving immortality by establishing my part in the coining of a new term which, with a little luck, will become part of our spoken language. Much of these will come with help from my awesome roommates, shown here, for reference, in an awkward yet epic picture.


Persense

This word was coined sometime around October of 2008, and most of the credit for its invention goes to my roommate, Chris Cahoon (bottom middle of the above picture). Basically, it was in reaction to the lack of accuracy in the word "sense". For instance, when someone proffers a story, fact, or suggestion of questionable quality you might be compelled to say "Whoa man! That makes no sense." The quality of the remark remains unevaluated except with the seldom used qualifiers as in "zero sense", "almost no sense" and "complete sense". To make matters worse, suggestions or stories aren't totally without merit, but rather are simply not feasible, relevant, responsible, etc.

In order to rectify this bothersome situation, we have adopted the term "persense". Here is how to use it:

per·sense - noun - a part of complete, cogent, sound and practical judgement.

Example:

"This semester, I want to be less stressed. I'm just gonna party and drink and hook up with chicks."

"What about your classes?"

"Well, I'll probably hang on to my grades just enough that I can salvage them enough to pass in the last three weeks."

"Dude, that makes, at most, 5 persense."


You see, in this example, the idea is not totally without redeeming merit or backing evidence. Indeed, many college students attempt this lifestyle every semester, and many of them succeed. However, the conceit that this will relieve stress is, at best, wildly optimistic. Whether you are vaguely stressed throughout the semester or are overwhelmed with work at the end, the net amount stress remains largely the same. (More on the Conservation of Stress in a future post.)

The "persense" of any given scenario is dependent upon the opinions of the user and is, thus, quite subjective. However, to arrive at the number used in the example Chris and I discussed two major factors; (1) the actual persense of the scenario and (2) the success rate of such a plan. We felt that, objectively, this plan made about 2%s (the symbol for persense), but multiplied by an estimated 50% success rate for the average student, we arrived at a rating of 1 persense. Therefore, although it is a subjective term, it is important that the user can back up their claim, preferably with subjective figures and confusing math.

Here's the fun part. Start using "persense" in your daily life. It isn't hard to explain because it makes, at least, 95 persense. In five, ten, maybe twenty years maybe it'll make it into common parlance, or even become Webster's Word of the Year like "truthiness" did.