Re: Chaotophile

Quoting Andreas Johansson <and_yo@...>:

> The other day, I needed a scientific-sounding word for someone who
> likes things to be chaotic and anarchic (don't ask why). So I coined
> "chaotophile". Two questions:
>
> i) Is this a possible (Anglicized) Greek formation?
Maybe. Greek <khaos> has the stem <chaot-> in English
loan words.

> ii) Is there an established scientific-sounding word of this meaning?
It really depends on the shade of meaning you're trying
to convey.  What's the context? If you're talking about
social class relations, then the elitist sounding
"ochlocratophile" (liking rule by the rabble) would also work.
If you're talking about someone who likes anarchy, then
"anarchophile" would work.  If you're talking about someone
who likes not having to obey social conventions, then
"anomophile" would work.  English doesn't really have a good
agreed upon, all-purpose word that would capture all these
meanings.

==============================
Thomas Wier <trwier@...>

"If a man demands justice, not merely as an abstract concept,
but in setting up the life of a society, and if he holds, further,
that within that society (however defined) all men have equal rights,
then the odds are that his views, sooner rather than later, are going
to set something or someone on fire." Peter Green, in _From Alexander
to Actium_, on Spartan king Cleomenes III